Jurors in the trial of Nima Momeni, who is accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee to death, today saw for the first time the surveillance camera footage that prosecutors say captured the stabbing incident in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023.
As the courtroom watched in silence, with many standing to get a better view, prosecutor Omid Talai played blurry, zoomed-in footage of Momeni and Lee as witness and video retrieval Officer Milad Rashidian described what he saw. It’s difficult to distinguish features of the two men, but prior and subsequent footage shows that Momeni was in white, and Lee in black.
After watching the two figures stand still, Talai pointed out that Momeni makes a sudden movement toward Lee. Then, the two separate. Momeni speeds away in his car while Lee begins walking down the street, attempting to flag down help.
“I noticed the subject in white advance toward the subject in black,” Rashidian said, after being shown the video.
Talai: The advancing that you observe, had you noticed any type of movements like that at any point in time prior to what we just talked about?
Rashidian: I did not.
After the alleged stabbing, Rashidian said, he saw Momeni make another motion — when prosecutors say Momeni threw the murder weapon over the nearby fence.
Talai: What do you see happening right now?
Rashidian: The subject in white [Momeni] appears to walk toward the fence, and lean into it.
In later, clearer video footage, Lee is seen stumbling away; he quickly comes upon a car waiting at a red light, and apparently tries to get the attention of those inside it.
“He appears to be signaling,” Rashidian said. As the video continued to play, Talai asked him what he saw. “Mr. Lee appears to collapse.”
From the audience, Lee’s ex-wife, Krista Lee, gasped. Later, Lee’s brother, Timothy Oliver Lee called the video “very hard to watch.”
Momeni, in those same moments, was tracked by various cameras as he drove away in his white BMW. He runs a nearby red light and returns to Emeryville.
Search warrants for Momeni’s home
Jurors also saw photos of Momeni’s home as part of testimony from multiple SFPD witnesses who searched several properties associated with Momeni on the day he was arrested.
Investigators did not find items they sought, like Momeni’s white BMW. Police also did not locate the distinctive jacket with a white trim that Momeni was wearing the night Lee was stabbed.
The morning that Momeni was arrested on April 13, 2023, three warrants were executed: at his Emeryville loft; at his sister Khazar Momeni’s apartment; and at her husband Dino Elyassnia’s separate residence, both in Millennium Tower.
Police did, however, find evidence that tied Nima Momeni to the stabbing, according to prosecutors. In both apartments at Millennium Tower, they found “Joseph Joseph” brand knives in the kitchen, which matched the branding on the knife that was found near where Lee was stabbed.
That knife turned up Lee’s DNA on the blade of the knife, and Momeni’s DNA on the handle.
Several photos of Momeni’s apartment showed a high-ceilinged loft with close-up shots of his clothes hanging in the closet, a framed photo with his sister and other trappings.
It is unclear where Momeni’s BMW was at the time of his search and arrest, but it was revealed last week that his mother and sister attempted to sell the car soon after his arrest.
The state of Momeni’s apartment, defense attorneys said, did not indicate he intended to flee.
Zangeneh: You don’t see any suitcases out, didja?
Gordon: Not that I remember.
Zangeneh: You don’t see clothes folded away, put in a suitcase, or anything that would suggest that Mr. Momeni was trying to … leave town?
Gordon: No.
The defense strategy
In an apparent attempt to discredit the police investigation, Nima Momeni’s attorneys noted that, despite knowledge and discovery of drugs at various locations, no legal action was taken on any parties. This appeared to be a leadup to again frame Jeremy Boivin — Lee’s friend and drug dealer, who allegedly sexually assaulted Momeni’s sister — as the true person of issue on that night.
Police discovered what they believed to be drugs at the apartments of both Khazar Momeni and her husband; they seemingly took no action to cite anyone for the drugs. Zoe Aron, one of Momeni’s attorneys, asked a police sergeant who participated in the search of Khazar Momeni’s apartment about a pink baggie of an unidentified powder discovered there.
“Narcotics is an arrestable offense, right? “ Aron asked Sgt. Thomas Moran. Officers could have issued a citation, he said.
Aron also asked whether warrants were served on Boivin or Borzu Mohazzabi, another friend of Lee’s who spent time with him the day he was killed. Both men have been key figures in the trial, as both sides attempt to establish a narrative and motive.
The police sergeant said he had no knowledge of warrants for either man.
When the attorneys attempted to ask why police did not search the home of the drug dealer Boivin, however, the judge stopped the line of questioning.
In yet another attempt to muddy the police investigation, defense attorneys revealed today that officers initially may have had a skewed narrative of the stabbing incident. Lead attorney Saam Zangeneh showed Lt. Phillip Gordon, who searched Momeni’s home, a “supplemental report” that accompanied the search warrant.
The supplemental police report indicated that an argument began in the car, escalated and provoked a stabbing, and that Lee fled as Momeni chased him down and stabbed him further. That view, defense attorneys’ questions seemed to imply, could affect officers’ views on Momeni and his family.
None of this appeared in any of the videos shown today. Gordon could not explain why that description was provided alongside the search warrants in the case.
