Murder trial of Bob Lee's stabbing suspect Nima Momeni begins; defense claims Lee had an 'outburst of aggression'

The highly anticipated trial of Nima Momeni for the April 2023 murder of technology entrepreneur Bob Lee begins today, and the defense team has laid out further arguments as to why they believe their client is innocent.

Today, the most sensational murder trial of the year begins in San Francisco, and we now know more than ever about the prosecution's evidence and the defense's strategy to support its claim of self-defense.

Recent court documents reported by Mission Local and KPIX indicate that Momeni believed both Bob Lee and a man named Jeremy Boivin were responsible for the “attempted rape” of Momeni's sister, Khezar Momeni, which occurred at a meeting at Boivin's apartment the afternoon before the murder. Prosecutors will argue that Momeni was an overprotective brother seeking revenge for what he believed happened to his sister.

Khezar Momeni texted her brother at least once that Lee had “never touched” her. In a text message that day, she also called her brother “psychotic” and said, “You scare me.”

According to reports, there is evidence of a video call between Momeni and Lee that took place before Lee arrived at Khezar Momeni's apartment in the Millennium Tower, where he spent over an hour with the two siblings before leaving with Nima Momeni and getting into his car.

Prosecutors have grainy surveillance footage of the actual stabbing — a figure who looks like Momeni makes a jumping motion toward a figure who looks like Lee, then makes a throwing motion over his head. This occurred in an area beneath the Bay Bridge in Rincon Hill, where the murder weapon, a five-inch kitchen knife, was later found.

As we learned last week, prosecutors also have footage of Momeni meeting with a private investigator in his former defense attorney's parking lot the day before his arrest. He is allegedly seen reenacting the crime – with “three clearly recognizable stabbing motions and one throwing motion.”

The video was secretly filmed by a detective from the San Francisco Police Department. The defense wants the video deleted because it is allegedly protected by attorney-client privilege.

“There has to be some kind of attorney-client privilege. And even if they didn't know it at the time of the surveillance, they know it now,” defense attorney Saam Zangeneh tells KPIX. “And the fact that they're trying to circumvent that significant privilege that a person has when they believe they're speaking and having a meeting under the safe protection of attorney-client privilege is an attempt to breach it. So it's obviously somebody's consent. That's somebody's right. You know, you have a right to confidentiality and confidential communications with your legal team, and that's what we're trying to protect.”

Zangeneh says he will present evidence that Momeni did not know Lee was fatally wounded, and he tells the station: “We will drill holes [in the prosecution’s case]and we will point out gaps. We will open the jury's eyes to the mistakes that were made.”

He has suggested that the San Francisco Police Department failed to properly examine the murder weapon and that if they had looked for fingerprints, they would have found Lee's fingerprints.

The prosecution will present DNA evidence that shows only Momeni's DNA on the knife handle and Lee's DNA on the blade.

In their self-defense plea, the lawyers will argue that Lee became aggressive in the moments when the two men were alone. “Nima was concerned for his sister's safety because of Bob's altered state, the recent outburst of aggression and the statements made by Bob Lee at the scene,” the defense said in a court document.

It remains unclear whether Momeni will testify in his own defense, but lawyers are leaving that possibility open.

Prosecutors appear to have ample textual evidence documenting Momeni's evasive behavior in text messages between him and his sister in the days following the murder.

As Mission Local previously reported based on court documents, Nima Momeni appears to have lied to Khezar when she said she “dropped off” Lee, rather than admitting that a violent altercation occurred between the two.

“I don’t know what [Lee] what I ended up doing at the bar or the strip club, I just came home,” Momeni said in a text message.

Khezar Momeni replied on April 5: “I will not.” [sic] get to the bottom of this and find out what happened to Bob,” and she asked, “Where [sic] you take him there.” Nima Momeni apparently answered this question evasively, and then the two did not text each other for three days – which, according to the prosecution, was unusual for the siblings.

Lee was found with multiple stab wounds on the morning of April 4 and later died on the operating table at San Francisco General. He was publicly identified as the victim on April 5.

All previous coverage of the Bob Lee murder case on SFist.

Top image: Nima Momeni arrives in court at the Hall of Justice in San Francisco, California, on May 18, 2023. Tech entrepreneur Nima Momeni, 38, was arraigned in a San Francisco courtroom today in connection with the stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. Momeni pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. (Photo by Paul Kuroda-Pool/Getty Images)