SAN FRANCISCO (AP)– The expertise knowledgeable butted in Cash App proprietor Bob Lee’s stabbing fatality had no goal to remove him and as a matter of truth was compelled to safeguard himself versus Lee, that had truly come to be hostile whereas on a multiday treatment bender, attorneys for Nima Momeni acknowledged in opening up declarations Monday.
Prosecutors state Momeni, 40, planned the April 4, 2023, attack after a disagreement over his younger sibling, Khazar, with whom Lee was good buddies. They state Momeni took a blade from an one-of-a-kind embed in his sibling’s condominium, drove Lee to a personal location and stabbed him 3 instances, after that received away.
“Stabbed through his heart and left to die,” acknowledged Omid Talai, aide space lawyer, “our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in his chest, once in his hip and literally one puncturing his heart.”
Lee’s fatality at age 43– after startling on a abandoned midtown San Francisco highway in search of help– shocked the tech community, and fellow execs and designers penciled homages to the charming enterprise proprietor’s kindness and sparkle. Lee was main merchandise police officer of cryptocurrency system MobileCoin when he handed away. He was a dad to 2 children.
Judge Alexandra Gordon has truly knowledgeable jurors the long-awaited take a look at that began Monday in San Francisco Superior Court is anticipated to final 2 months. Momeni, that resides in neighboring Emeryville, California, has truly remained in safety contemplating that his apprehension days after Lee handed away at a San Francisco healthcare facility.
Momeni has truly begged innocent. He encounters 26 years to life behind bars if based responsible.
Lawyer Saam Zangeneh knowledgeable jurors that protection lawyer will definitely reveal that Momeni birthed Lee no hostility which harm patterns reveal that Momeni was compelled to safeguard himself after Lee drew a blade out of his pocket, excessive up on drugs and having truly rested simply 6 hours over a four-day length of doing drug and alcohol consumption.
“We feel that once we present this case … and once we fill in the gaps, the only viable verdict in this case is a verdict of not guilty,” Zangeneh acknowledged. “Somebody’s dead. Nobody likes that, but you have the right to defend yourself.”
Momeni, seen at earlier court docket hearings in orange jail garments, was seated Monday together with his attorneys, placing on a darkish match. His mother, that has truly been an unwavering existence at hearings, remained within the court docket.
On the other of the court docket rested individuals of Lee’s members of the family, together with his ex-wife, papa and sibling. Lee’s sibling positioned an arm round his papa when the 911 phone name Lee made was repeated in court docket.
In it, Lee is listened to constantly requesting for help, not in a position to tackle the dispatcher’s issues concerning the place he was and what his title was. He acknowledged he had truly been stabbed.
Talai, the aide space lawyer, acknowledged jurors will definitely study by means of an excellent good friend of Lee’s, that was with him and Momeni’s sibling the day previous to Lee was stabbed.
The buddy will definitely affirm that Momeni madly barbequed Lee on the telephone that night over his sibling, drugs and “girls getting naked,” imitating “an overprotective, wannabe tough guy” whereas Lee was being easy and happy, Talai acknowledged.
Zangeneh acknowledged he will definitely reveal that the buddy shouldn’t be a reliable witness which Momeni and Lee had truly traded nice messages that night. Lee almost definitely welcomed Momeni to hitch him at a strip membership, Zangeneh acknowledged.
Surveillance video clip of Lee’s final night reveals him going into the stylish Millennium Tower midtown, the place Momeni’s sibling offers together with her hubby, a well-liked San Francisco beauty surgeon.
Video applications Lee and Momeni leaving the construction after 2 a.m. and repeling with one another in Momeni’s vehicle.
Other video clip will definitely reveal each males leaving the car in a separated place by the Bay Bridge, and afterwards Momeni stabbing Lee 3 instances, throwing the blade from his sibling’s kitchen space assortment and promptly repeling, Talai acknowledged.
Talai acknowledged the prosecution will definitely share sms message during which Momeni, the adhering to early morning, informs his sibling he didn’t perceive what occurred to Lee that night but that he was making ready a rape scenario versus him, assuming Lee had truly attacked Khazar.
The lawyer acknowledged video clip tape-recorded by a San Francisco cops investigative routing Momeni previous to his apprehension reveals him reenacting the three stabbing actions outdoors his earlier authorized consultant’s office, but no reenactment of a battle over the blade that Momeni’s legal professionals state Lee possessed initially.
Police recouped a blade with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade within the personal location the place Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors acknowledged examinations revealed Momeni’s DNA on the instrument’s care for and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade.
Zangeneh acknowledged Monday that cops should have tested the handle for finger prints, significantly Lee’s. He belittled the idea of Momeni bringing what was principally a “paring” blade from his sibling’s kitchen space to remove Lee, and acknowledged that Momeni didn’t acknowledge Lee was injured, rather a lot much less fatally injured.
He acknowledged his buyer aspires to tell his aspect of the story, but they haven’t decided whether or not Momeni will definitely affirm in his safety.
Family individuals for Momeni and Lee decreased to remark Monday.
Janie Har, The Associated Press
