Judge denies Nima Momeni defense motion to relocate Bob Lee murder trial
A judge decided Friday that the murder trial for the fatal stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee will remain in San Francisco.
Accused killer Nima Momeni was back in court for the latest hearing in the trial Friday afternoon. Momeni is accused of fatally stabbing Lee three times in the early morning hours of April 4th, 2023 in the East Cut neighborhood of San Francisco. He has pleaded not guilty.
Momeni's defense wanted to move the trial out of San Francisco, alleging "prejudice" in the Bay Area after photos were published showing Momeni in his San Francisco County jail cell.
Last November, lead defense attorney Saam Zangeneh stated the San Francisco jury pool was "polluted" with biases stemming from the published photos and subsequent media coverage of the case.
During the Friday hearing, the presiding judge denied that request.
Momeni's attorney's are also still trying to get access to Lee's cell phone records for the seven years leading up to his death. On Friday, there was no updated timeline of when those phone records will be turned over.
The judge set a status hearing for April 3rd to get an update on how long it will take forensics lab to download the phone records.
The trial is currently set to begin on May 20th.