Nima Momeni, who has been convicted of murder, is running for office.
The Iranian-born individual, not a U.S. citizen, will appear in a San Francisco court this Friday. His new legal team plans to argue that racial bias influenced the trial which led to his conviction for the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee.
At 42, Momeni was found guilty of second-degree murder back in December 2024.
His lawyers are now citing California’s Racial Justice Act, claiming that prosecutors did not adhere to its rules, as reported by Courthouse News Service.
A judge from the San Francisco Superior Court is set to review the allegations, which suggest that the prosecutors used derogatory and dehumanizing terms for the Momeni family during the trial, during an evidentiary hearing scheduled for Friday morning.
Momeni, who immigrated from Iran, speaks English as a second language.
The incident took place in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023, when Lee, 43, was stabbed in the heart under the Bay Bridge between approximately 2:25 a.m. and 2:30 a.m.
Lee was a father of two and a significant figure in tech circles. He worked at Google, launched Cash App, and later took an executive role at the cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin.
After being attacked, Lee managed to call 911 for assistance, leaving a trail of blood before collapsing on Main Street.
Prosecutors allege that Momeni attacked Lee in a vengeful act related to an incident involving his sister, who was said to have been assaulted by a drug dealer.
Momeni faced criticism from prosecutors who argued that Lee used drugs with his sister, introduced her to a dealer, and left her vulnerable.
Lee, who had a casual relationship with Momeni’s sister Hazal, exchanged flirtatious texts with her. Prosecutors contend that Momeni lured Lee from Hazal’s luxury condo at the Millennium Tower to a secluded area under the Bay Bridge before killing him.
On the morning of the attack, Hazal sent Lee a message checking on him, mentioning, “I know Nima has treated you badly.” After leaving the apartment, she flooded Momeni with angry texts demanding to know what happened to Lee, at one point calling him a “lunatic” and “psychopath.”
When on the stand, Momeni provided a different narrative, arguing that he attacked Lee after a “bad joke” regarding Lee’s visits to strip clubs instead of spending time with his family.
Prosecutors reiterated that Lee was unarmed at the time of his death.
California’s Racial Justice Act was established in 2021. In an earlier case in 2025, a judge in San Francisco granted an RJA motion based on implicit racial bias against a Black man, which led to his felony conviction being downgraded to a misdemeanor.
The implications for Momeni’s murder conviction remain uncertain should the judge approve his RJA motion.
Even after his conviction, Momeni has not yet been sentenced.
Now, nearly 20 months post-conviction, he remains in San Francisco County Jail, awaiting a belated hearing for sentence determination.
His potential sentence could range from 16 years to life.
