Nima Momeni’s defense team rested its case today in the trial for Cash App founder Bob Lee’s murder, but without the bombshells or big reveals that his attorneys had earlier promised.
Rather, the defense finished with an anticlimactic handoff to the jury of a hard drive full of surveillance footage from the days leading up to Lee’s killing in April 2023.
“Literally every surveillance video that the government provided,” attorney Saam Zangeneh called it. “At this time, the defense rests.”
“Yes, let it sink in, that’s what he said,” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon said to the jury of seven men and five women, some of whom smiled and others who looked on, dazed.
Earlier in the trial, the defense attorneys have alluded to surprise revelations that never materialized in the weeks of trial. Momeni’s attorney Zoe Aron, on her Instagram page, posted a Mission Local photo in May with the caption: “We know something y’all don’t.”
As Momeni’s attorneys left the courtroom for the day, Zangeneh again suggested the same in closing arguments to the jury, which will likely commence in the first week of December.
“We’re gonna tie it all up in closing,” Zangeneh said. “There’s going to be some explosions in closing.”
Today, instead, the defense rested, after testimony from one former San Francisco Police Department officer that the alleged murder was likely self-defense.
Retired SFPD use-of-force and defensive tactics trainer Steve Pomatto, the defense team’s last major witness, continued to testify today in support of Momeni’s argument that he acted in self-defense. In his testimony, Momeni said that Lee attacked him first with a knife and Momeni turned the knife back on Lee. Pomatto called this the “most reasonable explanation” for Lee’s stab wounds.
The prosecution, however, contends that Momeni stabbed Lee three times with a kitchen knife matching those found at Momeni’s sister’s apartment. The knife was discovered adjacent to the scene of Lee’s stabbing, with primarily Nima Momeni’s DNA on the handle, and Lee’s DNA on the blade.
Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai repeatedly attacked Pomatto’s assessment, as well as his credibility and history. The prosecution is expected to call Sgt. Liam Frost and Capt. Brien Hoo on Thursday in a further attempt to discredit Pomatto, who they say misrepresented himself in a job application.
Other witnesses expected to testify for the prosecution include Lee’s friend Lauren Weiniger and two others whose social media profiles indicate they were former colleagues: Kristina Plummer, who worked at MobileCoin, and Carlos Whitt, who worked at Square. Lee was an executive at both companies.
Lee and Momeni were seen leaving Millennium Tower on April 4, 2023, around 2 a.m., and driving away in Momeni’s white BMW. The car was seen pulling over near the Bay Bridge on Main Street, and after some altercation, Lee walked away with multiple stab wounds.
A stab wound to Lee’s hip angled slightly from the back to the front of his body. That, Pomatto figured, could have occurred as Lee pulled a knife from his pocket, and Momeni grabbed and attempted to control Lee’s hand. Lee also had two wounds in close proximity on his chest, which Pomatto said were “consistent” with Momeni’s claim that Lee swung at Momeni, knife in hand, and Momeni redirected Lee’s arm to his chest.
“You seem to have a very strong, very resolute opinion that it was Mr. Lee who pulled the knife,” Talai said today, but noted that other experts testified that they could not speculate about the events that caused Lee’s wounds. “So why is your opinion so strong?”
“It’s just an opinion,” Pomatto said. “It’s just to me, the most reasonable explanation to how those wounds were incurred from a defensive tactic reaction.”
Pomatto said today that his assessment was based in part on Momeni having practiced martial arts and other fighting tactics, but did not rely on DNA or the internal trajectories of Lee’s wounds. Pomatto testified on Monday that he has been paid nearly $10,000 for his work on the case over the past 10 months. While on the witness stand on Monday and Tuesday, he was being paid $400 per hour.
Prosecutor Talai came down on Pomatto’s theory, insisting that Pomatto couldn’t know what happened, as he was not present during the confrontation between the two men.
He also attacked Pomatto’s career, and suggested Pomatto lied and described himself as a Navy SEAL instead of a Navy bomb squad member when applying to join the San Francisco Police Department’s specialist team.
Today, under questioning from defense attorney Tony Brass, Pomatto testified that a “misstep” in the application process caused his application to be flagged. Two years later, he was asked to reapply, and was accepted onto the specialist team where he had been given multiple promotions before retiring in 2023.
Brass, after hearing Talai’s cross-examination of Pomatto, said that he was surprised by how much Talai had attacked “one of their own,” referring to the often close relationship between the police department and the district attorney’s office. He called it an example of the “viciousness” that can arise during a trial.
But Talai will apparently be doubling down in painting Pomatto as untrustworthy. Today, he accused Pomatto of misrepresenting himself to two other members of SFPD, Frost and Hoo, who will be called as rebuttal witnesses as soon as Thursday.
Looks like this guy is only pretending to have a “defense.” He’ll do life if he’s found guilty and he’ll deserve it.