Defense attorneys for defendant Nima Momeni wrapped up their closing arguments Tuesday with a startling video clip that they said showed fatal stabbing victim and Cash App founder Bob Lee using cocaine with the same knife that killed him hours later.
Defense attorneys brought the case to a dramatic conclusion with their closing arguments in the suspect’s high-profile murder case. The state has accused Momeni of it fatally stabbing tech manager Lee in a remote part of San Francisco’s East Cut neighborhood on an early morning in April 2023.
Prosecutors have argued that the fatal stabbing occurred after a heated argument about his sister’s relationship with Lee and their continued drug use.
Vicki Behringer
Video played for the first time in court Tuesday showed Lee and his friend Borzu Mohazzebi appearing to consume cocaine outside the Battery Club hours before the stabbing. But it was the object the couple used to consume the drugs, which defense lawyer Saam Zangeneh said was the same knife used in the murder.
“They buried it,” Zangeneh said of the video after Tuesday’s session. “I guarantee they didn’t know we found it. Because if they had known, they would have addressed it.”
The victim’s brother, Timothy Oliver Lee, said that’s impossible.
“Bob never carried a knife and Bob never pulled cocaine from a knife. I just think it’s crazy,” he said.
Using a cardboard version of the Joseph Joseph peeler used in the fatal stabbing, defense attorney Zangeneh highlighted black-and-white surveillance video at the end of his team’s closing argument, saying it was evidence that Lee had the knife all along had.
The claim is directly contradictory the evidence presented in the prosecution’s closing argument that Lee could not have had the knife in his jacket pocket. Surveillance footage from later that evening showed nothing weighing down the side of the garment as it blew in the wind.
“It holds the exact same shape and size as the knife found outside the Caltrans parking lot. That’s the knife,” Zangeneh said outside the courtroom.
It wasn’t the first time the defense used theatrics during its closing arguments. Zangeneh previously used a bag of sugar as a prop, assuring the judge and jury that the plastic bag did not contain cocaine.
The moment led to a tense exchange between the lawyer and Lee’s ex-wife Krista, who laughed mockingly as he showed the video.
Zangeneh then turned directly to her and said it wasn’t funny. Prosecutors quickly objected, with the judge intervening and restoring order.
“Outbursts during a family member’s closing argument are incredibly inappropriate, unprofessional and, quite frankly, rude,” Zangeneh said.
“He calls Krista and the people sitting in the courtroom. That is really painful for us,” said Timothy Oliver Lee. “Nima Momeni not only killed Bob, but now he’s trying to kill his character; he’s trying to destroy his legacy. And that’s something we can’t live with. We can’t stand it.”
Momeni’s lawyers made their last attempt to prove their client’s innocence to the jurors. They said Momeni had no motive to stab Lee and tried to paint a lasting picture that strengthened their claim that he acted in self-defense.
In criminal cases, prosecutors get the final say. During their rebuttal, the prosecutor told jurors that the likelihood of so many coincidences falling into place to make Momeni’s story possible was akin to being struck by lightning 30 times.
They urged jurors to use their common sense and return a guilty verdict. Their last words in court: “Don’t let him get away with it.”
The case is expected to go before the jury for deliberation on Wednesday. If convicted, Momeni faces a prison sentence of 26 years to life.
