Defense for Nima Momeni claims Bob Lee did drugs with murder weapon in closing arguments
Attorneys for defendant Nima Momeni on Tuesday wrapped up their closing argument with a surprise video clip they claimed showed fatal stabbing victim and Cash App founder Bob Lee doing cocaine with the same knife used to kill him hours later.
Defense attorneys brought the case to a dramatic conclusion with their closing arguments in the defendant's high-profile murder trial. The state has accused Momeni of fatally stabbing tech executive Lee in a remote part of San Francisco's East Cut neighborhood on an early morning in April 2023.
Prosecutors have argued the deadly stabbing came after a heated discussion regarding his sister's relationship with Lee and their ongoing drug use.
Video played for the first time inside the courtroom Tuesday showed Lee with his friend Borzu Mohazzebi appearing to consume cocaine outside the Battery club hours before the stabbing. But it was the object the pair used to consume the drugs that defense attorney Saam Zangeneh said is the same knife used in the murder.
"They buried it," Zangeneh said of the video following Tuesday's session. "I guarantee you, they didn't know we found it. Because if they knew, they would have addressed it."
The victim's brother Timothy Oliver Lee said that's impossible.
"Bob never carried a knife and Bob never did coke off of a knife. It's just insane to me," he said.
Using a cardboard version of the Joseph Joseph paring knife used in the fatal stabbing, defense Zangeneh highlighted black and white surveillance video at the end of his team's closing argument, saying it was proof Lee had the knife all along.
The claim directly counters the evidence presented in the prosecution's closing argument that Lee couldn't have had the knife in his front jacket pocket. Surveillance footage from later that night showed nothing weighing that side of the garment down as it blew in the wind.
"He's holding the same exact shape and size of the knife that was found outside the Caltrans parking lot. That's the knife," Zangeneh said outside the courtroom.
It wasn't the first time the defense used theatrics during its closing arguments. Earlier, Zangeneh used a bag of sugar as a prop, assuring the judge and jury the plastic bag did not contain cocaine.
The moment sparked a tense exchange between the defense attorney and Lee's former wife Krista, who let out a mocking laugh as he showed the video.
Zangeneh then turned to directly address her, saying it wasn't funny. Prosecutors quickly objected, with the judge intervening and restoring order.
"Outbursts during closing arguments from a family member is such an unbelievably inappropriate, unprofessional and, candidly, rude thing to do," said Zangeneh.
"He's calling out Krista and people that are in the courtroom. That's really painful for us," said Timothy Oliver Lee. "Nima Momeni didn't only kill Bob, but now he's trying to kill his character; trying to kill his legacy. And that is something that we can't abide. We can't stand for that."
Momeni's defense attorneys made their final bid to prove their client's innocence to jurors, saying that Momeni had no motive to stab Lee and trying to provide a lasting image reinforcing their claim that he acted in self-defense.
In criminal cases, prosecutors get the final word. During their rebuttal, the prosecution told jurors the odds for so many coincidences to fall into place to make Momeni's story possible were like being struck by lightning 30 times.
They urged jurors to use common sense and return a guilty verdict. Their final words in court: "Do not let him get away with it."
The case is expected to go to the jury for deliberation Wednesday. If convicted, Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison.
