An expert in forensic pathology took the stand in the trial for Cash App founder Bob Lee’s murder yesterday and told jurors that Lee’s stab wounds were consistent with the self-defense theory presented by his alleged killer, Nima Momeni.
The trial has entered its 15th day. Momeni’s defense attorneys are calling witnesses in an attempt to bolster their argument that Lee, who had been consuming cocaine and ketamine in the days leading up to his April 3, 2023, stabbing, may have been agitated and acted aggressively. Momeni, according to his attorneys, acted in self-defense.
John Marraccini, a former chief medical examiner from Florida, was called as an expert witness to support the argument that Lee tried to stab Momeni, forcing Momeni to turn the knife on Lee.
“Usually, a vital organ is targeted when someone assaults someone else with a knife,” Marraccini said. Lee, however, was stabbed in the hip, and Marraccini said that “the pathway was very superficial” and “very atypical,” which raises the question: “Was this a deflection attempt?’”
The object of Momeni’s purported anger has been a lingering question throughout the trial. Prosecutors say Momeni was angry with Lee, who he believed assaulted his sister. Defense attorneys say Momeni was not angry with Lee, but with his friend and alleged drug dealer, Jeremy Boivin, for sexually assaulting his sister. They say Momeni stabbed Lee in self-defense.
Marraccini supported the defense’s argument that Lee drew the knife from his pocket, and Momeni turned it around on him. In doing so, Momeni would have first hit Lee’s hip, then pressed it into Lee’s chest twice — a scenario that Marraccini said was plausible, after reviewing the knife wounds in Lee’s body.
Much of Marraccini’s testimony yesterday was speculative, however, and other scenarios could have played out.
Marraccini agreed that an alternate theory offered by prosecutor Dane Reinstedt — that Momeni stabbed Lee twice in the chest, then as Lee moved away, superficially stabbed his hip — was also possible.
But that scenario, defense attorneys noted yesterday, would not match the stabbing motions that prosecutors claim Momeni was caught reenacting when speaking to lawyers after his arrest.
“They are on the fly, coming up with any reason they can to justify their position,” said defense attorney Brad Cohen after Tuesday’s hearing.
Defense attorneys also had Marraccini review the toxicology report that showed Lee had cocaine and ketamine in his system when he died. But, Reinstedt asked, was that a reason to believe Lee was acting dangerously?
“There is nothing, in your opinion, that says that because someone has cocaine or ketamine in their system, that they automatically fly into a murderous rage, correct?”
Marraccini agreed.
Aranza Villegas, a friend of Momeni’s sister, Khazar, spent time with her and Boivin in the afternoon before the stabbing.
Though prosecutors say Momeni stabbed Lee over a purported “inappropriate” action between Lee and Khazar, defense attorneys have directed the jury to focus on Lee’s friend, Jeremy Boivin, who allegedly sexually assaulted her. But how this connects to the stabbing remains unclear.
Villegas testified on Tuesday that she did not believe any sexual assault occurred, but she considered Boivin’s actions while she was at his home to be abusive. Boivin, who had hosted Lee earlier in the afternoon of April 3, 2023, and later hosted Villegas and Khazar, gave the two women GHB, also known as the date rape drug, and misled them about what it was.
