Cash App founder Bob Lee’s murder trial: opening statements

Lee’s death at age 43 – after staggering down a deserted street in downtown San Francisco looking for help – stunned residents. technology communityand fellow executives and engineers wrote tributes to his generosity and brilliance. Lee was the product manager of cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he passed away. He was the father of two children.

Prosecutors said Nima Momeni, 40, planning to attack on April 4 after a dispute over his sister, Khazar, with whom Lee was friends. They said Momeni took a knife from a unique set of clothes in his sister’s apartment, drove Lee to a remote area and stabbed him three times before fleeing.

“Our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in the chest, once in the hip and literally through the heart,” said Omid Talai, assistant district attorney. Robert Lee. Known as Bob.”

Defense lawyer disagreeand they said that Lee, druggedattack Momeni. They plan to give opening statements after lunch.

“Our theory is that Bob had the knife and Nima acted in self-defense,” attorney Saam Zangeneh told The Associated Press last week.

He said his client is eager to tell his side of the story, but they have not yet decided whether Momeni will testify in his defense. Momeni, who lives in nearby Emeryville, California, has been detained since the days of his arrest after Lee died at a San Francisco hospital.

On Monday, Momeni sat with his lawyers, wearing dark suits.

His mother, who was a steadfast presence at the hearings, appearing in court alone on Monday morning. On the other side of the courtroom were members of Lee’s family, including his ex-wife, father and brother.

Talai, the assistant district attorney, said the jury will hear from a friend of Lee’s who was with Momeni’s brother and sister the day before Lee was stabbed.

That evening, the friend would testify, Momeni angrily grilled Lee over the phone about his sister, drugs and “naked girls,” acting like “an overprotective, wannabe guy.” a tough guy” while Lee appeared gentle and cheerful, Talai said.

Surveillance video of Lee’s final night shows him entering the luxury Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister lives with her husband, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon.

Talai said jurors will see video of Lee and Momeni leaving the building after 2 a.m. and driving together in Momeni’s car. Other video would show two men get out of the car in a secluded spot next to the Bay Bridge, then Momeni stabs Lee three times, throws the knife out of his sister’s kitchen and quickly drives away.

Talai said the prosecution will share text messages in which Momeni, the next morning, told his sister that he did not know what happened to Lee that night.

The lawyer said video recorded by a San Francisco police detective who followed Momeni before his arrest showed him reenacting three stabbing movements outside his former law office, but did not recreate the scene. struggled with the knife that his lawyer said Lee used first.

Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10 cm) blade in the remote area where Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors said tests showed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade. But the defense has said the police should have Tried the handle for fingerprints, specifically Lee’s.

Lee was found around 2:30 a.m. in San Francisco’s Rincon Hill neighborhood, which has tech offices and apartments but little activity in the early morning.

Talai said he called 911 as he staggered, bled and begged for help.

Family members of Momeni and Lee declined to comment Monday.

Momeni, who has pleaded not guilty, faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon told jurors the trial could last until mid-December.

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