Cash App founder Bob Lee appeared to have snorted cocaine off a knife blade hours before he was stabbed to death, an explosive device revealed for the first time by the murder suspect's defense attorney in closing statements. This was revealed in the video.
Nima Momeni's lawyer Saam Zangeneh told jurors in a San Francisco courtroom on Tuesday as footage shot hours before Lee, 43, was stabbed to death on April 3, 2023, was played. “That's the knife,” he said. Reported by Mission Local.
The footage showed Lee standing with his friend Bo Mohazabi outside the club where they had been drinking that night. Then they bent down and Lee appeared to suck something from a sharp, shiny object in his hand. Lee then put something like a small bag in the hole, dug a hole, and lifted it up to the nose.
“Look at the measurements. Look at the size. What else do we have?” Zangene told jurors as he held up a 3.5-inch blade notch that matched the knife Lee was killed with. asked.
“As long as we have a reasonable theory, we need to prove he is innocent,” the lawyer said. “Unless they can prove that our theory is not reasonable, he is innocent.”
The footage could undermine prosecutors' contention that Momeni was the one who brought the knife with him when he and Lee drove off together late that fateful night.
At the center of the case is another video of two people emerging from the apartment of Momeni's sister, Hazar Eliasnia, 38, before the stabbing, which prosecutors say shows Lee holding a knife before the stabbing. He claimed to know that he had not done so.
Prosecutors allege that Momeni was furious with his sister, with whom he was allegedly having an affair, and stabbed her to death, as well as being sexually assaulted by a drug dealer introduced to her. There is.
But Momeni's lawyers argued that Lee, who was heavily inebriated, was the assailant and pulled a knife on Momeni after joking that he would rather go to a strip club than spend time with his family. They argued that Momeni was simply defending himself and that Lee was fatally stabbed during a struggle over a knife.
A knife taken from Momeni's sister's kitchen was found at the scene of the stabbing.
In a rebuttal to Zangeneh's closure, prosecutor Omid Tarai questioned whether the object Lee was holding in the video was a knife, telling jurors it was detected in the handle. Citing 99% of the DNA forensically, he said it was still scientifically confirmed that Momeni was the murderer. The knife that killed Lee belonged to Momeni, and 98% of the DNA on the blade belonged to Lee.
“You should believe what the defense attorney says,” Tarai said, according to Mission Local. “Or should I believe in science and DNA?”
However, the new footage also appears to undermine Mohzabi's testimony. Mr Mohzabi told jurors that he heard Mr Momeni being “aggressive” when he called Mr Lee about his sister that night, but also said he had no recollection of using drugs. Did you see Lee do anything that night?
This is just the latest development in a case that has shocked San Francisco's tech industry, where Mr. Lee was widely remembered after his death as a beloved and hard-working innovator.
But the case exposed the seedier underbelly of the wealthy community, with a social scene dominated by swinger sex parties and drug-fueled criminals taking center stage.
Jury deliberations are scheduled to begin Wednesday.
