Tech marketing consultant discovered responsible of second-degree homicide in stabbing loss of life of Money App founder Bob Lee

A San Francisco jury on Tuesday discovered a tech marketing consultant responsible of second-degree homicide within the stabbing loss of life of Money App founder Bob Lee, which carries a sentence of 16 years to life, rejecting the defendant’s declare that he had acted in self defence.

Jurors took seven days to ship their verdict in opposition to Nima Momeni within the April 4, 2023, loss of life of Lee, a beloved tech mogul who was discovered staggering on a abandoned downtown road, dripping a path of blood and calling for assist. Lee, 43, later died at a hospital.

“We’re blissful that Nima Momeni is not going to be on the streets, he now not has the chance to hurt anyone else on this world,” the sufferer’s brother, Tim Oliver Lee, instructed reporters. “We predict justice was carried out right here at this time.”

Mahnaz Tayarani, the mom of the defendant, had tears in her eyes Tuesday as she referred to as the decision unfair.

“My son shouldn’t be the individual that they suppose,” she mentioned. “He’s very variety, he’s very loving and respectful and caring.”

Prosecutors mentioned Momeni deliberate the assault on Lee, driving him to an remoted spot below the Bay Bridge and stabbing him 3 times, together with as soon as to the guts, with a knife he took from his sister’s kitchen. They are saying Momeni was indignant with Lee for introducing his youthful sister to a drug vendor she says gave her GHB and different medication after which sexually assaulted her.

However Momeni testified on the stand that Lee was the one who attacked him with a knife, indignant after the tech marketing consultant chided him about spending extra time together with his household as a substitute of looking for a strip membership that evening. Momeni, who research martial arts, mentioned he did not understand he had fatally wounded Lee or that Lee was even harm.

The case has drawn nationwide consideration, partly given Lee’s standing within the tech world. At first, his loss of life enflamed debate over public security in San Francisco as X proprietor Elon Musk took to the social media web site to submit that “violent crime in SF is horrific and even when attackers are caught, they’re typically launched instantly.”

San Francisco District Legal professional Brooke Jenkins mentioned the decision confirmed that the killing was a focused crime and never an instance of random lawlessness within the metropolis.

“We’re a metropolis dedicated to accountability, we’re a metropolis dedicated to public security,” Jenkins instructed reporters after the listening to.

Momeni, 40, has been in custody since his arrest in April 2023, when he was charged with homicide within the first diploma.

Members of the family of each males faithfully attended the trial, which began October 14. Family of the defendant sat on one aspect of the court docket room whereas Lee’s father, brother and ex-wife sat on the opposite, recoiling at Lee’s post-mortem pictures and 911 name.

Jurors acquired the case on December 4 and reached their resolution late Monday afternoon, however the court docket selected to announce the decision Tuesday morning. The courtroom was crowded with Lee’s household and associates and journalists who’ve been following the high-profile trial.

Lee had created cellular cost service Money App and was the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency MobileCoin when he died. He had lately moved to Miami from the San Francisco Bay Space, the place his ex-wife Krista Lee lives with their two youngsters, and had returned to California for a go to.

Each side agreed on the sequence of occasions that led to the 2 males dealing with off within the early morning hours of April 4. However there isn’t a unbiased documentation of what they mentioned to one another or who introduced out the knife, and video of their ultimate encounter is grainy.

The prosecution mentioned the video confirmed Momeni stabbing Lee 3 times. Additionally they mentioned the homicide weapon — a virtually 8-inch paring knife with a roughly 4-inch blade — had Momeni’s DNA on its deal with and Lee’s DNA on the blade.

Two of Momeni’s 5 attorneys had been in court docket Tuesday, with the others attending by video from Florida.

“That is clearly very disappointing for us,” mentioned Tony Brass, including that the staff would consider for an enchantment.

Jurors in the long run rejected a cost of homicide within the first diploma, which required prosecutors show that Momeni acted intentionally, willfully and with premeditation. Homicide within the second diploma doesn’t require premeditation.

Jurors on Tuesday declined to talk to the press.

The afternoon earlier than the stabbing, Lee and Khazar Momeni had been doing medication and ingesting on the condo of a drug vendor Lee knew. Lee left earlier than Nima Momeni went to select up his sister, who instructed him she had been assaulted.

A buddy of Lee’s testified Momeni then grilled Lee over the telephone about what occurred to his sister whereas on the drug vendor’s condo. He despatched textual content messages saying that the 2 males had been creeps and sexual predators.

Momeni later frolicked with Lee at his sister’s apartment till she kicked them out, saying she wanted to sleep.

Surveillance video exhibits the 2 males leaving Khazar Momeni’s posh apartment round 2 a.m. and moving into Nima Momeni’s BMW. Different surveillance footage then exhibits them getting out of the automotive close to the Bay Bridge, the place the stabbing passed off.

Momeni testified he stopped his automotive after going over a pothole that brought on Lee to spill the beer he was holding. Momeni mentioned he then cracked a joke suggesting Lee ought to spend the final evening of his go to with household as a substitute of looking for a strip membership to maintain the occasion going.

That’s when he says Lee snapped, yelled at him about questioning his parenting abilities and pulled out the knife from his jacket pocket, and attacked.

“I used to be scared for my life,” Momeni mentioned throughout trial, in testimony that was rambling and contentious.

He mentioned Lee walked away from the encounter, and confirmed no proof of being harm. He didn’t understand Lee had died till the next day, he mentioned.

“I really feel terrible to his household, to himself,” Momeni mentioned on the stand. “He didn’t deserve it. I don’t suppose anybody deserved that.”

The prosecution mocked Momeni’s story, declaring that he by no means referred to as police to report Lee’s alleged assault and even after he realized Lee had died of stab wounds on the road the place he had final seen him.

Prosecutors additionally confirmed textual content messages Khazar Momeni despatched her brother, asking the place he had dropped off Lee — a query he sidestepped. She despatched a textual content message to Lee checking on him as a result of her brother got here “down arduous” on him and to thank him for “dealing with it with class.”