SAN FRANCISCO (AP)– The expertise skilled butted in Cash App proprietor Bob Lee’s stabbing fatality had no goal to remove him and as a matter of truth was compelled to safeguard himself versus Lee, that had really come to be hostile whereas on a multiday treatment bender, attorneys for Nima Momeni said in opening up declarations Monday.
Prosecutors state Momeni, 40, planned the April 4, 2023, attack after a disagreement over his younger sibling, Khazar, with whom Lee was good associates. They state Momeni took a blade from an one-of-a-kind embed in his sibling’s condominium, drove Lee to a personal location and stabbed him 3 instances, after that acquired away.
“Stabbed through his heart and left to die,” said Omid Talai, aide space lawyer, “our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in his chest, once in his hip and literally one puncturing his heart.”
Lee’s fatality at age 43– after startling on a abandoned midtown San Francisco highway searching for support– shocked the tech community, and fellow execs and designers penciled homages to the charming enterprise proprietor’s kindness and sparkle. Lee was main merchandise police officer of cryptocurrency system MobileCoin when he handed away. He was a dad to 2 children.
Judge Alexandra Gordon has really knowledgeable jurors the long-awaited take a look at that began Monday in San Francisco Superior Court is anticipated to final 2 months. Momeni, that resides in neighboring Emeryville, California, has really remained in safety contemplating that his apprehension days after Lee handed away at a San Francisco healthcare facility.
Momeni has really begged innocent. He encounters 26 years to life behind bars if based responsible.
Lawyer Saam Zangeneh knowledgeable jurors that protection lawyer will definitely reveal that Momeni birthed Lee no hostility which damage patterns reveal that Momeni was compelled to safeguard himself after Lee drew a blade out of his pocket, excessive up on medicines and having really rested simply 6 hours over a four-day length of doing drug and alcohol consumption.
“We feel that once we present this case … and once we fill in the gaps, the only viable verdict in this case is a verdict of not guilty,” Zangeneh said. “Somebody’s dead. Nobody likes that, but you have the right to defend yourself.”
Momeni, seen at earlier court docket hearings in orange jail garments, was seated Monday along with his attorneys, placing on a darkish match. His mother, that has really been an unwavering existence at hearings, remained within the court docket.
On the alternative of the court docket rested individuals of Lee’s relations, together with his ex-wife, papa and sibling. Lee’s sibling positioned an arm round his papa when the 911 phone name Lee made was repeated in court docket.
In it, Lee is listened to persistently requesting for support, not in a position to deal with the dispatcher’s issues concerning the place he was and what his title was. He said he had really been stabbed.
Talai, the aide space lawyer, said jurors will definitely study by a very good good friend of Lee’s, that was with him and Momeni’s sibling the day previous to Lee was stabbed.
The buddy will definitely affirm that Momeni madly barbequed Lee on the cellphone that night over his sibling, medicines and “girls getting naked,” imitating “an overprotective, wannabe tough guy” whereas Lee was being easy and glad, Talai said.
Zangeneh said he will definitely reveal that the buddy just isn’t a reliable witness which Momeni and Lee had really traded nice messages that night. Lee most certainly welcomed Momeni to hitch him at a strip membership, Zangeneh said.
Surveillance video clip of Lee’s final night reveals him going into the stylish Millennium Tower midtown, the place Momeni’s sibling offers along with her hubby, a preferred San Francisco beauty surgeon.
Video packages Lee and Momeni leaving the construction after 2 a.m. and repeling with one another in Momeni’s vehicle.
Other video clip will definitely reveal each males leaving the car in a separated place by the Bay Bridge, and afterwards Momeni stabbing Lee 3 instances, throwing the blade from his sibling’s kitchen space assortment and promptly repeling, Talai said.
Talai said the prosecution will definitely share sms message through which Momeni, the adhering to early morning, informs his sibling he didn’t perceive what occurred to Lee that night but that he was making ready a rape state of affairs versus him, assuming Lee had really attacked Khazar.
The lawyer said video clip tape-recorded by a San Francisco cops investigative routing Momeni previous to his apprehension reveals him reenacting the three stabbing actions exterior his earlier authorized consultant’s office, but no reenactment of a battle over the blade that Momeni’s legal professionals state Lee possessed initially.
Police recouped a blade with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade within the personal location the place Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors said examinations revealed Momeni’s DNA on the software’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade.
Zangeneh said Monday that cops should have tested the handle for finger prints, notably Lee’s. He belittled the idea of Momeni bringing what was principally a “paring” blade from his sibling’s kitchen space to remove Lee, and said that Momeni didn’t acknowledge Lee was injured, so much much less fatally injured.
He said his buyer aspires to tell his facet of the story, but they haven’t decided whether or not Momeni will definitely affirm in his safety.
Family individuals for Momeni and Lee decreased to remark Monday.
Janie Har, The Associated Press
