Bob Lee murder trial hears police testimony as visual evidence paints bloody crime scene
The trial of the man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee on a San Francisco street in April of 2023 continued on Tuesday with testimony from police officers and crime scene investigators who responded to Lee's desperate 9-1-1 call.
After a dramatic day of opening statements in the trial of Nima Momeni, court activity turned more technical as the prosecution began to present its case Tuesday. The first witness called to the stand was a San Francisco police sergeant who describe what he saw and did at the scene in Rincon Hill under the western end of the Bay Bridge as well as detailing some of the evidence collected in the aftermath the crime.
The panel of 12 jurors and five alternates examined the evidence presented by the prosecution, including the seven-inch Joseph Joseph paring knife that was used to stab Lee, red blood splatter clearly visible on the blade.
Prosecutors say that knife came from Momeni's sister's kitchen in her Millenium Tower apartment, where the three of them had been hanging out late that night.
Momeni had been questioning Lee about his sister's behavior and whether the two of them had done drugs.
But after their short drive, Momeni's lawyers say it was Lee who lunged at Momeni in a drug-fueled rage and that Momeni acted in self defense.
Among the items other submitted as evidence on Tuesday were video clips and stills from the officers' body cameras that showed what officers witnessed when they arrived to find the mortally wounded Lee. One video clip showed the moment an officer discovered the paring knife that had been thrown over a fence into a Caltrans parking lot.
It also showed the area that officers cordoned off with crime tape where the trail of blood left by the victim could be preserved for forensic investigators.
During cross examination, Momeni's defense attorneys tried to establish that the area where Lee was found was not as quiet and desolate as prosecutors suggested and questioned why police at the scene didn't try to question more people passing through the area on foot.
The second witness to testify was SFPD Officer Rosalyn Check, the lead crime scene investigator who was questioned about how she documented the evidence she found, including the blood trail left behind by Lee and smears of blood he left on walls and a call box as he struggled to keep moving.
The u-shaped trail of blood spanned up the block, across the street and to the front of the Portside Apartments where Lee was found by first responders.
Officer Check noted that the trail of blood drops at the scene became visibly heavier as blood flow increased from the victim.
Momeni's defense attorneys questioned Check on the methods she used to take fingerprints from the knife -- the officer noted that the handle of the knife was "a tacky rubber" and not a good surface for fingerprinting -- as well as whether the blood evidence that was left behind gave any indication as to who the aggressor was in the physical confrontation, which Check agreed did not.
The defense team also peppered Check with questions about how evidence was preserved at the crime scene as they attempted to sow doubt in just one juror needed for a hung jury.