Nima Momeni’s Bay Area family and a cadre of five lawyers came to court on Tuesday morning to hear a judge set a July 31 preliminary hearing date for charges of first-degree murder in the case of tech executive Bob Lee.
Momeni’s two new Florida-based attorneys, Saam Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen, are awaiting approval to practice law in California for Momeni’s case, though both have taken California cases in the past. They have three California lawyers assisting them: Well-known San Francisco attorney Tony Brass, Zoe Aaron, and Douglas Horngrad.
“Whatever happened in the past is in the past. We are fresh eyes, fresh perspectives,” Zangeneh said outside the courtroom on Tuesday morning.
Momeni will remain in custody until the July hearing. At a preliminary hearing, evidence and testimony are presented and witnesses are called to determine the merits of the case.
Momeni is facing murder charges for Lee’s death, after video surveillance footage placed the two men together shortly before the April stabbing.
A witness told investigators that earlier in the day that Nima Momeni and Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App, had been arguing about Momeni’s married sister, Khazar — and that Momeni had been questioning Lee about what the two had been doing together. A knife matching those in Khazar Momeni’s kitchen was allegedly found near the scene of the stabbing, with both men’s DNA on it.
Momeni pleaded not guilty to the murder last month.
His mother, Mahnaz Tayarani Babai; sister, Khazar Momeni; and brother-in-law Dino Elyassnia all appeared in court on Tuesday. Shortly before Momeni was brought out into the courtroom, a small window opened briefly and a face could be seen in the glass. Momeni’s mother held her hands above her head in a heart shape.
Zangeneh said he was hired after offering advice to someone apparently close to Momeni, but declined to say who. After some time, he said, the person asked him to officially represent Momeni.
On May 30, Momeni and his former defense attorney, Paula Canny, suddenly parted ways over unspecified differences. “The first lawyer always gets dumped,” Canny said at the time.
When the family was asked in the court hallway whether they were happy with their new defense team, Zangeneh interjected: “Of course they are!”
In court, Prosecutor Omid Talai joked that he was “here by myself,” drawing attention to the five attorneys surrounding Momeni in his orange jumpsuit.
But Zangeneh later said it was in fact his team that is outnumbered. “They have a whole District Attorney’s Office, they have a whole team of law enforcement agents,” he said.
Unlike Canny, Zangeneh declined to comment on any specifics of the murder case, and said he was still in the process of reviewing the evidence.
“We’re in the infancy portion of due diligence,” he said. Zangeneh, who is based in Miami, said his team intends to be in San Francisco for court dates “of substance which [require] actual litigation” but that the local attorneys can step in as needed.
Earlier coverage
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O J Simpson got off. Donald Trump will be pardoned if convicted. The facade of justice in America is just that.
““The first lawyer always gets dumped,” Canny said at the time. ”
No they don’t. Sound like he was right to dump he though, she can’t seem to keep her mouth shut.
But what were they wearing?? Armani? Ferragamo? That’s a nice watch. Patek?
Must be nice to be able to spend a gazillion dollars for your legal team. Meanwhile, the rest of us peasants get an overworked public defender who may or may not be able able to read our case file before going in front of a judge.
The American Justice System – you get the Justice you can afford to buy.
Any observer of criminal defense lawyers in SF knows that SF Public Defenders are the best trial defenders available at any price. (Tony was a great SFDA!) SFPDs free many poor folks/kids in jail bc they got an SF public school education in The City … that knows how to read & work for a union wage while fighting for justice.
goose
is
cooked
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3words