The jury was shown on camera the moment Bob Lee was stabbed

Jurors in the trial of Nima Momeni, who is accused of stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee to death, today got their first look at surveillance footage that prosecutors say captured the early morning stabbing incident on April 4, 2023.

As the courtroom watched in silence as many stood to get a better view, prosecutor Omid Talai played blurry, zoomed-in footage of Momeni and Lee while witness and video search officer Milad Rashidian described what he saw. It is difficult to make out the features of the two men, but before and after shots show that Momeni was wearing white and Lee was wearing black.

Watching the two figures stand still, Talai pointed out Momeni’s sudden movement towards Lee. Then they separate. Momeni speeds off in his car while Lee starts walking down the street trying to stop help.

“I noticed a white object moving towards the black,” Rashidian said after being shown the video.

Talay: The promotion that you’re seeing, have you noticed any movements like that at any point in time before what we’ve just been talking about?

Rashidyan: No.

Rashidian said he saw Momeni make another move after the alleged stabbing — when prosecutors say Momeni threw the murder weapon over a nearby fence.

Talai: What do you think is happening now?

Rashidian: Subject in white (Momen) appears to be walking towards the fence and leaning over it.

Later, clearer footage shows Lee stumbling away; he quickly comes across a car waiting at a red light and is obviously trying to get the attention of those inside.

“He seems to be signaling,” Rashidian said. As the video continued, Talay asked him what he was seeing. “Mr. Lee seems to have passed out.”

From the audience, Lee’s ex-wife, Krista Leegasped

At the same time, Momeni was tracked by various cameras as he drove his white BMW. He runs the nearest red light and heads back to Emeryville.

Search warrants

Jurors also saw photos of Momeni’s home as part of testimony from several SFPD witnesses who searched several properties associated with Momeni on the day of his arrest.

Investigators did not find items they were looking for, such as Momeni’s white BMW. Police also did not find the distinctive white-trimmed jacket Momeni was wearing the night Lee was shot.

On the morning Momeni was arrested on April 13, 2023, three warrants were executed: at his loft in Emeryville; in the apartment of his sister Khazar Momeni; and at her husband Dino Eliasnia’s separate residence, both in the Millennium Tower.

However, according to prosecutors, police found evidence implicating Nima Momeni in the stabbing. In both Millennium Tower apartments, they found “Joseph Joseph” knives in the kitchen that matched the brand on a knife found near where Lee was stabbed.

That knife showed Lee’s DNA on the blade and Momeni’s DNA on the handle.

Several photos of Momeni’s apartment showed a high-ceilinged loft with a close-up of his clothes hanging in a closet, a framed photo of his sister, and other paraphernalia.

It is unclear where Momeni’s BMW was at the time of his search and arrest, but it was revealed last week that his mother and sister tried to sell the car shortly after his arrest.

According to the lawyers, the condition of Momeni’s apartment does not indicate that he was going to run away.

Zangeneh: Don’t you see any suitcases, deeja?

Gordon: I don’t remember.

Zangeneh: You don’t see folded clothes, put in a suitcase or anything else that would indicate that Mr. Momeni was trying to… leave the city?

Gordon: No.

Defense strategy

In an apparent attempt to discredit the police investigation, Nima Momeni’s lawyers pointed out that despite the knowledge and discovery of the drugs at various locations, no legal action had been taken against either party. It seemed to be a cue to re-impose Jeremy Boivin—Lee’s friend and drug dealer who allegedly sexually assaulted Momeni’s sister—as the real person that night.

Police found what they believed to be drugs in the apartments of both Hazar Momeni and her husband; they apparently took no action to charge anyone with drugs. Zoe Aron, one of Momeni’s lawyers, asked the police sergeant who participated in the search of Hazar Momeni’s apartment about the pink bag of an unknown powder found there.

“Drugs are an arrestable crime, right? Aron asked the sergeant. Thomas Moran. According to him, the officers could write a report.

Aron also asked if warrants had been issued for Boivin or Borza Mohazzabi, another friend of Lee’s who spent time with him on the day of his murder. Both men have been key figures in the trial as both sides try to establish the narrative and motive.

A police sergeant said he was not aware of any warrants for either of them.

However, when the lawyers tried to ask why the police did not search the house of the drug dealer Boyven, the judge stopped the questioning.

In yet another attempt to muddle a police investigation, defense lawyers today revealed that police officers may have initially had a distorted account of a stabbing incident. Lead attorney Saam Zangene showed Lt. Philip Gordon, who searched Momeni’s home, a “supplementary report” that accompanied the search warrant.

A supplemental police report states that an argument began in the car, escalated and led to the stabbing — and that Lee fled as Momeni chased him and wounded him further. Such a view, according to the lawyers’ questions, could have influenced the officers’ views of Momeni and his family.

None of this was in any of the videos shown today. Gordon could not explain why that description was provided with the search warrants in the case.