Bob Lee murder trial cross-examination turns tense as Nima Momeni spars with prosecutors
The man accused of fatally stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee in San Francisco last year remained on the stand Thursday for another round of contentious cross-examination by prosecutors.
Nima Momeni has pleaded not guilty to the murder, claiming he was defending himself from an attack by Lee during a drug-fueled rage that ended with Lee fatally stabbed in San Francisco's Rincon Hill/East Cut neighborhood. Prosecutors allege that Momeni stabbed Lee with a kitchen knife taken from his sister Khazar Momeni's apartment.
On Wednesday, Momeni was called to the stand by his defense team as he presented his version of the deadly encounter with Lee, insisting that the tech executive became enraged over a bad joke Momeni had made about Lee being more interested in going to a strip club than spending more time with his family on his last night in town.
Momeni said when Lee attacked him, he attempted to stop Lee's arm holding that knife and pinned it against Lee's chest, pushing him back two times. He claimed that he didn't know Lee was injured, saying he appeared to walk away from the confrontation talking on his cell phone.
Momeni returned to the witness stand Thursday, sparring repeatedly with the prosecutor, who challenged the defendant's version of the story and focused on his actions immediately after Lee's death, including his calls to attorneys and text messages with his sister.
Prosecutors pressed Momeni about why Lee would have reacted with such anger, to where he was willing to physically attack him, when Momeni had earlier testified his exchanges with Lee had been positive.
San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai tried to expose inconsistencies in Momeni's testimony, questioning why the defendant didn't contact police if Bob Lee was the attacker. Momeni at one point said he figured Lee could have had a separate confrontation with someone else that led to his death.
Talai also asked why he contacted criminal defense lawyers himself if he thought he had nothing to do with Lee's death. Momeni responded that it was to defend himself.
The exchanges between the prosecution and Momeni often became heated Thursday. The judge was repeatedly forced to intervene to simmer tensions and one of Momeni's attorneys even jumped in to remind his client to answer the questions.
Prosecutors also returned to texts sent by Momeni to his sister about pursuing a rape case against Bob Lee, days after he was already found dead. That's even after Momeni said he was sad and heartbroken to learn of Lee's passing.
Momeni's sister texting around the same time, "Bob never touched me, no one did."
"It doesn't necessarily seem reasonable to a juror that he would be pursuing a rape case against someone who had died and Nima Momeni was sad that he died," said attorney Shannan Dugan, who was observing in the courtroom. "It's something that can't be explained in a way that makes sense, and it may cause the jury to doubt part of his testimony."
During his testimony, Momeni also repeated that he felt the SFPD lied and mischaracterized him and other evidence. When questioned about exactly what he felt was inaccurate, Momeni was unable to produce a clear answer.
Bob Lee's brother Timothy Oliver Lee on Thursday repeated his claims that Momeni's testimony makes no sense.
"You've seen him be aggressive on the stand. You've seen him try to take control of this room," he said. "The Momeni family trying to act morally superior here is ridiculous in every way possible. This arrogant and entitled person is really just trying to make his deplorable actions and his reprehensible actions trying to end a life, 18 months later trying to revise them into something that will keep him out of prison."
Momeni will remain on the stand Monday as the jury is allowed to submit questions for the defendant that the judge and the two legal teams will read through to determine which questions will be read in court. There may also be additional questions by both the prosecution and the defense.
