Nima Momeni: New details in Bob Lee killing revealed in court
New details of CashApp founder Bob Lee‘s final moments were revealed at a preliminary court hearing for murder suspect Nima Momeni in San Francisco on Monday.
The San Francisco prosecutor’s office began laying out its murder case against Mr Momeni, 38, who was charged with stabbing the 43-year-old tech entrepreneur to death while driving through San Francisco’s Rincon Hill neighbourhood on 4 April.
Cedric Hood, a San Francisco Police Department officer, told the hearing that he responded to a 911 call to find Lee “bleeding uncontrollably” from stab wounds to his chest and the hip, according to KRON4.
“He was unresponsive,” Mr Hood said.
Mr Hood told the court he had been informed by another officer that a homeless man was sleeping near garbage cans about 40 feet away, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The homeless man appeared incoherent when questioned by police, Mr Hood told the court.
Mr Momeni hired high-profile defence attorneys Saam Zangeneh and Bradford Cohen in May after his previous lawyer Paula Canny withdrew from the case, citing a conflict of interest.
The defence sought to cast doubt on the thoroughness of the police investigation.
Mr Zangeneh told reporters outside court that police had failed to properly question the homeless man.
Crime scene investigator Rosalyn Check told the court that he examined a blood stain “drip trail” along the sidewalks of Harrison and Main streets where Lee had staggered after he was attacked, according to KRON4.
A four-inch silver kitchen knife with a black handle was found near the blood trail inside a locked California Department of Transportation parking lot, Ms Check said.
When asked by Mr Zangeneh whether any blood was found inside of Mr Momeni’s BMW, Ms Check said she was not involved with that part of the investigation, according to KRON4.
Under cross-examination by Mr Zangeneh, Ms Check agreed the knife found near the murder scene appeared to be old.
Mr Zangeneh also asked about a bag of cocaine that was found in Lee’s hotel room.
The preliminary hearing is expected to last two days, after which Judge Harry Dorfman will rule whether there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
Mr Momeni appeared in court wearing an orange prison-issue jumpsuit. His mother Mahnaz Tayarani was in court. Lee’s ex-wife Krista Lee, father Rick and brother Tim Lee also attended the hearing, according to the Standard.
Prosecutors allege Mr Momeni stabbed Lee after the pair argued about Lee’s romantic involvement with his sister Khazar Momeni.
Surveillance footage captured the stabbing and events leading up to the altercation. Footage from around 2am that night allegedly showed the victim and suspect getting into Mr Momeni’s car and driving to the secluded area where Lee was killed.
Mr Momeni was arrested at his home in Emeryville on 13 April.
He has pleaded not guilty to murder, and his former attorney previously insisted that the stabbing was accidental and in self-defence.
An autopsy showed Lee sustained knife wounds that pierced his heart and lung.
In April, it emerged that Mr Momeni was cited but not charged in a 2022 domestic battery case.
Mr Momeni also had previous run-ins with police, including a dismissed misdemeanour charge for driving under the influence in 2004 and charges of driving with a suspended license and selling a switchblade in 2011 which were later dropped.
