By JANIE HAR | Related Press
SAN FRANCISCO — The homicide trial of a tech guide within the stabbing loss of life of Money App founder Bob Lee begins Monday, a 12 months and a half after the extensively admired entrepreneur was discovered staggering on a abandoned downtown San Francisco avenue in search of assist.
Lee’s loss of life at age 43 shocked the tech neighborhood, and fellow executives and engineers penned tributes to his generosity and brilliance. Lee was chief product officer of cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he died. He was a father to 2 youngsters.
Prosecutors say Nima Momeni, 40, deliberate the April 4 assault after a dispute over his youthful sister, Khazar, with whom Lee was buddies. They are saying Momeni took a knife from his sister’s condominium, drove Lee to a secluded space and stabbed him thrice, then fled.
FILE – Flowers sit at a tree in entrance of the constructing the place a expertise government was fatally stabbed exterior of in San Francisco, April 6, 2023. (AP Photograph/Jeff Chiu, File)
Protection legal professionals disagree, and so they say that Lee, excessive on medication, attacked Momeni.
“Our theory is that Bob had the knife, and that Nima acted in self defense,” lawyer Saam Zangeneh mentioned.
He mentioned his consumer is raring to inform his aspect of the story, however they haven’t determined whether or not Momeni will testify in his protection.
Momeni, who lives in close by Emeryville, California, has been in custody since his arrest days after Lee died at a San Francisco hospital. Momeni’s mom has been a steadfast presence at court docket hearings, and he’s near his sister.
Prosecutors have mentioned in court docket paperwork {that a} good friend of Lee’s instructed murder investigators that they had been ingesting with Momeni’s sister the day earlier than the stabbing. The good friend mentioned Momeni later questioned Lee about whether or not his sister was doing medication or in any other case partaking in inappropriate habits, and Lee mentioned she had not.
CashApp founder Bob Lee was fatally stabbed April 4 in San Francisco. (Cellular Coin) (Cellular Coin)
Surveillance video of Lee’s remaining night time reveals him coming into the luxurious Millennium Tower downtown, the place Momeni’s sister lives along with her husband, a distinguished San Francisco plastic surgeon.
Video then reveals Lee and Momeni leaving the constructing collectively after 2 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s automotive. Lee was discovered round 2:30 a.m. within the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco, which has tech places of work and condominiums however little exercise within the early morning hours.
Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade on the scene. Prosecutors mentioned exams confirmed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon’s deal with and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade. However the protection mentioned police ought to have examined the deal with for fingerprints, specifically Lee’s.
Momeni, who has pleaded not responsible, faces 26 years to life if convicted.
San Francisco Superior Courtroom Choose Alexandra Gordon has instructed jurors the trial might final till mid-December.
