A San Francisco jury on Tuesday discovered a tech guide responsible of second-degree homicide within the stabbing demise of Money App founder Bob Lee, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life, rejecting the defendant’s declare that he had acted in self protection.
Jurors took seven days to ship their verdict towards Nima Momeni within the April 4, 2023, demise of Lee, a beloved tech mogul who was discovered staggering on a abandoned downtown road, dripping a path of blood and calling for assist. Lee, 43, later died at a hospital.
“We predict justice was carried out right here at the moment,” the sufferer’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, instructed reporters. “What issues at the moment is that we had a responsible verdict and Nima Momeni goes away for a really very long time.”
Prosecutors stated Momeni deliberate the assault on Lee, driving him to an remoted spot below the Bay Bridge and stabbing him thrice, together with as soon as to the guts, with a knife he took from his sister’s kitchen. They are saying Momeni was offended with Lee for introducing his youthful sister to a drug supplier she says gave her GHB and different medication after which sexually assaulted her.
However Momeni testified on the stand that Lee was the one who attacked him with a knife, offended after the tech guide chided him about spending extra time along with his household as a substitute of looking for a strip membership that night time. Momeni, who research martial arts, claimed self-defense and stated he did not understand he had fatally wounded Lee or that Lee was even harm.
The case has drawn nationwide consideration, partly given Lee’s standing within the tech world. At first, his demise enflamed debate over public security in San Francisco as X proprietor Elon Musk took to the social media web site to put up that “violent crime in SF is horrific and even when attackers are caught, they’re usually launched instantly.”
San Francisco District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins stated the decision confirmed that the killing was a focused crime and never an instance of random lawlessness within the metropolis.
“We’re a metropolis dedicated to accountability, we’re a metropolis dedicated to public security,” Jenkins instructed reporters after the listening to.
Momeni, 40, has been in custody since his arrest in April 2023, when he was charged with homicide within the first diploma.
Relations of each males have faithfully attended the trial. Mahnaz Tayarani, mom of the defendant, has sat on one aspect of the court docket room whereas Lee’s father, brother and ex-wife sat on the opposite, recoiling at Lee’s post-mortem images and 911 name.
On Tuesday, Tayarani had tears in her eyes as she known as the decision unfair.
“My son shouldn’t be the person who they assume,” she stated. “He’s very form, he’s very loving and respectful and caring.”
Jurors obtained the case, which began Oct. 14, on Dec. 4. They reached their choice late Monday afternoon, however the court docket selected to announce the decision Tuesday morning. The courtroom was crowded with Lee’s household and pals and journalists who’ve been following the high-profile trial.
Lee had created cellular fee service Money App and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin when he died. He had moved to Miami from the San Francisco Bay Space, the place his ex-wife Krista Lee lives with their two kids.
Either side agreed on the sequence of occasions that led to the 2 males dealing with off within the early morning hours of April 4. However there isn’t any impartial documentation of what they stated to one another or who introduced out the knife, and video of their remaining encounter is grainy.
The prosecution stated the video confirmed Momeni stabbing Lee thrice. Additionally they stated the homicide weapon — an almost 8-inch paring knife with a roughly 4-inch blade — had Momeni’s DNA on its deal with and Lee’s DNA on the blade.
Two of Momeni’s 5 attorneys had been in court docket Tuesday, with the others attending through Zoom from Florida.
“That is clearly very disappointing for us,” stated Tony Brass, including that the group would consider for an enchantment.
Jurors in the long run rejected a cost of homicide within the first diploma, which required prosecutors show that Momeni acted intentionally, willfully and with premeditation. Homicide within the second diploma doesn’t require that aspect.
Jurors on Tuesday declined to talk to the press.
The afternoon earlier than the stabbing, Lee and Khazar Momeni had been doing medication and consuming on the house of a drug supplier Lee knew. Lee left earlier than Nima Momeni went to select up his sister, who instructed him she had been assaulted.
A good friend of Lee’s testified Momeni then grilled Lee over the cellphone about what occurred to his sister whereas on the drug supplier’s house. He despatched textual content messages saying that the 2 males had been creeps and sexual predators.
Momeni later frolicked with Lee at his sister’s condominium till she kicked them out, saying she wanted to sleep.
Surveillance video reveals the 2 males leaving Khazar Momeni’s posh condominium round 2 a.m. and stepping into Nima Momeni’s BMW. Different surveillance footage then reveals them getting out of the automobile close to the Bay Bridge, the place the stabbing befell.
Momeni testified he stopped his automobile after going over a pothole that triggered Lee to spill the beer he was holding. Momeni stated he then cracked a joke suggesting Lee ought to spend the final night time of his go to with household as a substitute of looking for a strip membership to maintain the get together going.
That’s when he says Lee snapped, yelled at him about questioning his parenting abilities and pulled out the knife from his jacket pocket, and attacked.
“I used to be scared for my life,” Momeni stated throughout trial, in testimony that was rambling and contentious.
He stated Lee walked away from the encounter, and confirmed no proof of being harm. He didn’t understand Lee had died till the next day, he stated.
“I really feel terrible to his household, to himself,” Momeni stated on the stand. “He didn’t deserve it. I don’t assume anybody deserved that.”
The prosecution mocked Momeni’s story, mentioning that he by no means known as police to report Lee’s alleged assault and even after he discovered Lee had died of stab wounds on the road the place he had final seen him.
Prosecutors additionally confirmed textual content messages Khazar Momeni despatched her brother, asking the place he had dropped off Lee — a query he sidestepped. She despatched a textual content message to Lee checking on him as a result of her brother got here “down exhausting” on him and to thank him for “dealing with it with class.”
