The judge presiding over Nima Momeni’s trial in the fatal stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee reprimanded Momeni’s defense team for violating court rules during an emergency hearing Thursday morning at the San Francisco courthouse.
Momeni is accused of Lee fatally stabbed on a dark street in San Francisco’s East Cut neighborhood in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023. Momeni’s lawyers planning to plead self-defense in their client’s case.
CBS News Bay Area reporter Lauren Toms confirmed that Judge Alexandra Robert Gordon raised the issue during the emergency hearing. She told Momeni’s attorneys that the court had no record of their defense motions in what Judge Gordon called the court’s “C-Track system,” where they would appear on the public calendar.
Toms confirmed that the judge told the defense team that while she had received documentation of the motions directly by email, those copies could not be considered an official filing of the motions with the court.
According to online reports, the court ordered Momeni’s defense team to submit all required documents by noon on Thursday. When the defense requested an extended time frame until 2:30 p.m., the judge denied the request, noting that she had sent an email to the attorneys about the matter on Wednesday afternoon and had not received a response.
Momeni, who was present at the hearing while his lawyers attended via teleconference, began to apologize for the omission but was assured by the judge that the problem lay solely with his legal team.
The first preliminary hearing in Momeni’s case took place Wednesday with the suspect — dressed in an orange jumpsuit — and his team of five attorneys present in the courtroom, along with prosecutors. Momeni’s mother was also present, as were three of Bob Lee’s relatives, including his ex-wife Krista and father.
The pretrial hearing was the first of what was expected to be several hearings that would set the ground rules for the trial. Both the defense and prosecution filed a set of rules they wanted the judge to consider, with each side presenting its case.
The defense filed at least four motions, which were heard behind closed doors so as not to influence the potential jury in San Francisco.
Three motions were heard publicly in court. The first involved the period of drug use — days, weeks or months — by both stabbing victim Bob Lee and defendant Momeni, who was allowed to be named at trial.
At this point, the defense wanted to be able to bring up Lee’s drug use in the weeks before his death, while the prosecution wanted a shorter time period for relevance. This would also apply to the time period for Momeni’s drug use. The judge said she would rule on that point behind closed doors.
A second issue discussed was Lee’s “Crazy Bob” nickname — a moniker he used as the name for his blog and Twitter account. The prosecution argued against using the name, saying it could prejudice the jury. The defense said the name was relevant to his character.
There was also the question of how the knife used in the fatal stabbing could be mentioned at trial. The defense called for restrictions on the mention of the knife—a Joseph Joseph paring knife that matches the brand found in the apartment of Khazar Momeni, the defendant’s sister. The defense cited speculation in its motion, while the prosecution argued that the mention of the knife was relevant. In this case, the judge denied the defense’s motion, agreeing that it was relevant.
The next preliminary hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 23.
