Jury deliberations in the San Francisco murder trial of Nima Momeni, the man prosecutors accuse of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee last year, will resume Tuesday morning.
The jury was scheduled to reconvene at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, the fourth day of deliberations since the case was first received last Wednesday.
Momeni was charged with first-degree murder in the 2023 fatal stabbing of technology executive Lee The crime carries a prison sentence of 26 years to life, although jurors in the case will also consider murder and manslaughter.
The judge instructed the jurors that whatever verdict they reached must be unanimous.
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 technology executive out of anger over the introduction his sister Khazar Momeni to an alleged drug dealer who gave her drugs and sexually abused her.
During the trial, Momeni’s lawyers claimed their client acted in self-defense when Lee lunged at Momeni with a knife in hand while high on cocaine and ketamine. The defense said Lee became erratic and aggressive after Momeni made a “bad joke”. about the tech executive who wants to go to a strip club instead of spending time with his family.
Jurors are due in 21 days sometimes controversial testimonies and thousands of pieces of evidence weighing Momeni’s fate.
Attorney Shannon Dugan was in the courtroom as an observer throughout the trial. She told CBS News Bay Area that the fact that the jury has not yet reached a decision could be a good sign for the defendant.
“If everyone quickly agrees on the evidence and the law, they can come to a guilty verdict more quickly, although there are always exceptions,” Dugan said. “But I also think this jury is working very hard to get it right. I think they have a heavy responsibility for both sides, and they take their job very seriously.”
