Jurors in the trial of Nima Momeni, the man accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco, are facing a deadline as they prepare for the sixth day of deliberations in the case Thursday.
December 12 is the “hardship date” set months ago by the judge during jury selection. If a verdict has not been reached by the end of the day on Thursday, jurors can opt out of the trial and end their participation on the jury.
If jurors decide to leave the trial, an alternate must be chosen and deliberations restarted. Additionally, if there are not enough alternates to fill the jury, a mistrial is declared.
The jury will reconvene at 9:30 am on Thursday to resume deliberations.
Jurors have been instructed by the judge that they must be unanimous in whatever verdict they make in the trial.
On Wednesday, lawyer Saam Zangeneh was asked how long the deliberations had lasted so far. Zangeneh didn’t seem to think the length of deliberations was an indicator of which way the jury was leaning.
“This is one of the longer deliberations I’ve personally been involved in, but it doesn’t mean anything, you know?” he said. “Listen, they’re doing their job. That’s all I can say.’
Late Tuesday in deliberations, the defense filed a motion for a mistrial, saying prosecution witness Borzu Mohabezzi lied on the stand and accused the prosecution of knowing about it. The request was quickly rejected by the judge.
Mohabezzi described himself as a good friend of Lee. During his testimony in Octoberhe explained what drugs they took when they partied with the defendant’s sister the day before Lee was killed.
Jurors received the case just over a week ago, on December 4, after 21 days of testimony that became controversial at times when the suspect repeatedly sparred with the prosecutor during cross-examination.
Momeni is accused of it killing Lee in a remote part of San Francisco’s East Cut neighborhood under the Bay Bridge early one morning in April 2023. The prosecutor argued that Momeni stabbed the tech executive out of anger for introducing him Momeni’s sister Khazar against an alleged drug dealer who gave her drugs and sexually abused her.
During the trial, Momeni’s lawyers argued that their client acted in self-defense when Lee lunged at Momeni with a knife in hand while high on ketamine and cocaine. The defense said Lee became erratic and aggressive after Momeni made a “bad joke”. about the tech executive who wants to visit a strip club instead of spending time with his family.
Momeni was charged with first-degree murder, which carries a prison sentence of 26 years to life. Jurors are also considering murder and manslaughter in the case.
