Momeni defense team in Bob Lee murder trial places victim's ex-wife on witness list
Attorneys representing Nima Momeni, who is accused of fatally stabbing tech executive Bob Lee, could be calling the victim's ex-wife to the witness stand in the upcoming trial.
In court documents filed Friday, CBS News Bay Area has learned exclusively that the defense team, including Florida-based attorneys Saam Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen along with California-based attorneys Tony Brass and Zoe Aron, plan to call Krista Lee to the witness stand.
It is unclear what she may say during testimony.
The defense team also declared on an earlier version of the list that they plan to call Momeni's sister, Khazar and Jeremy Boivin, who allegedly supplied drugs to Khazar and a friend the day prior to the fatal stabbing, as witnesses.
This comes after a pre-trial hearing took place that aimed to set ground rules for the trial that is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Both the prosecution and defense were present at the hearing, as well as the defendant and several family members, including Momeni's mother and Lee's ex-wife Krista.
In pre-trial hearings, the defense requested that video allegedly recorded by San Francisco Police Department detectives during surveillance after Momeni's arrest be dismissed from appearing during trial.
In court documents filed by the prosecution, prosecutors said they have video of Momeni appearing to reenact the stabbing in outside the Burlingame law office of his former attorney.
The defense team argues the video "is not relevant" and should be deemed inadmissible due to attorney-client privileges.
The defense also seeks to have video from search warrants conducted of Momeni's home be dismissed from evidence. In court documents, the defense claims that Momeni "owned various knives and weapons that have no link to the people's case."
Mention of the murder weapon's relation to a set found in Khazar Momeni's apartment should also be excluded from evidence, according to documents filed by the defense. A paring knife found near the stabbing that contained DNA from both Lee and Momeni matches the brand of knives found in Khazar's home.
The defense argues the connection is "pure speculation as there is not one piece of evidence that show the knife came from the apartment." On Wednesday, a judge denied this motion.
Pre-trial hearings continue on Monday.
Jury selection is expected to begin next week, at the earliest.
