A San Francisco jury has reached a verdict in the case of the man accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee.
The jury reached its decision on Monday, following more than two weeks of deliberations in the trial of Nima Momeni, 40, which first began in October, KTVU reports.
But the verdict will not be read until Tuesday morning at the San Francisco Superior Court.
Prosecutors have argued that Momeni took Lee’s life on the 300 block of Main Street in the ritzy Rincon Hill neighborhood in April 2023.
It is alleged he stabbed Lee three times after hearing that his drug-dealing friend plied his younger sister, Khazar, with GHB and other drugs and sexually assaulted her.
‘One person called 911 pleading for help, saying somebody stabbed me,’ said Dane Reinstedt, assistant district attorney, adding that the other person never called police or told anyone what happened that night until the trial.
But defense attorneys say Lee, 43, was on a multi-day drug bender of cocaine and ketamine that made him agitated and violent, and that he attacked the defendant with a knife.
They said Momeni was forced to use his Krav Maga martial arts skills in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023, after ‘making a ‘bad joke’ that upset Lee – and did not realize he had stabbed him.
A San Francisco jury has reached a verdict in the case of Nima Momeni, 40, who is accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee
Lee was found staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street at 2:30am in April 2023, dripping a trail of blood and calling for help . He later died at a hospital
Momeni faces 26 years to life if convicted of murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The assistant district attorney mocked Momeni’s defense as he walked jurors through evidence from the trial that began on October 14.
He said Momeni was furious with Lee for introducing Khazar, with whom he was friends, to a drug dealer who gave her GHB, known as a date-rape drug, hours before the stabbing.
They say Momeni grilled Lee earlier in the evening about what happened to his sister at the drug dealer’s apartment, and sent text messages saying that the two men were creeps and sexual predators.
Momeni then met up with Lee at his sister’s condo, took a paring knife from her kitchen set, drove Lee to a secluded area by the Bay Bridge and stabbed him three times, including a fatal blow through his heart, on a dimly lit street, Reinstedt said.
‘That protectiveness of the defendant’s little sister is what led to all of this,’ he said.
Momeni had learned “his little sister, the person he’s closest to in the world, was given date rape drugs and sexually assaulted. If that’s not a basis to kill someone, I don’t know what is,’ prosecutor Reinstedt said.
The puncture wounds were clean, clear and deep, and not the result of any kind of self-defense tussle, he said. 99 percent of the DNA on the handle of the knife belonged to Momeni, the prosecutor said.
Scout Lee, Bob Lee’s daughter, seen with her arms wrapped around her mom Krista Lee, right, along with Tim Oliver Lee (Bob’s brother) the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni in San Francisco on Monday
The Lee family listened in tears as the courtroom heard Bob’s 911 call asking for help
Reinstedt played Lee’s 911 call from April 4, 2023, that recorded his final words.
Jurors could hear him begging an emergency dispatcher for help before he collapsed on Main Street in a pool of blood.
Lee’s ex-wife, his father, brother, and the couple’s two children could be seen in the court room listening, reports KRON4.
Lee’s youngest teenage child started to sob after surveillance footage of her dying father was played in court as he collapsed in a pool of his own blood.
‘On April 4, 2023, one person called 911 pleading for help, saying, ‘somebody stabbed me.’ Telling us with his last words what happened that night. He begged for help, over and over and over. (Momeni) never called police.
‘He never told anyone about what happened under the Bay Bridge that night until a year and a half later, after he had an opportunity to review all the evidence, to tell you a carefully crafted story.’
Floral tributes left close to where Lee was fatally stabbed. Lee’s death stunned the tech community as fellow executives and engineers penned tributes to the charismatic entrepreneur’s generosity and brilliance
‘One person is dead. The other person sits in this courtroom. The evidence now proves he’s a murderer,’ Reinstedt told jurors.
‘One person was stabbed. The other person suffered not one single injury,’ the prosecutor added.
‘One person was the passenger in the white BMW that drove to that quiet dark area with no witnesses.
‘He didn’t choose the location they went to. (Momeni) was the driver. It was an area (under the bridge) he was familiar with, knowing it was as isolated as you could get in a city like San Francisco, knowing he had easy access to flee onto the freeway.
‘The defendant’s claim is he acted in self-defense. Your job is to determine the facts,’ Reinstedt told the jury.
Bob Lee, the CashApp creator was a father to two girls. Both are now teenagers with Scout, 16, seen right, attending court in San Francisco on Monday
The prosecution started its closing argument with a 911 call in which Lee could be heard asking repeatedly for help.
Surveillance video of Bob goofing around on his final night and autopsy photos of his wounds have been difficult to view, said Lee’s brother, Timothy Oliver Lee. He dismissed Momeni’s explanation of events as a fabrication.
‘Even if he was under the influence, he was still Bob. He was never aggressive. He was always a teddy bear and always a great guy,’ he said.
Prosecutor, Dane Reinstedt, the assistant district attorney can be seen in this courtroom sketch showing harrowing video of Bob Lee’s final moments as he lay dying outside an apartment building
But Momeni testified that he had cracked a joke suggesting Lee should spend his last night visiting the city with family instead of trying to find a strip club to keep the party going.
That’s when Lee suddenly pulled a knife, Momeni said. He said Lee later walked away, showing no signs he was injured.
‘I was scared for my life,’ Momeni said in earlier testimony that was at times rambling and contentious. ‘I had to defend myself.’
Lee was found staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street at 2:30am, dripping a trail of blood and calling for help. He later died at a hospital.
Jurors were allowed to ask questions and, through San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon, asked why Momeni did not call police, either after Lee’s knife attack or after Momeni realized Lee had been stabbed to death.
A knife recovered from the area where Lee was stabbed showed Momeni´s DNA on the handle, but the defense said the handle should have been tested for Lee’s fingerprints.
