The initial gambit by Nima Momeni's defense attorneys to move his trial from San Francisco did not pay off as the judge in the case ruled on the request for a change of venue on Friday.
Momeni's trial could finally begin sometime this year with the April 2023 murder of tech entrepreneur and CashApp founder Bob Lee. As Mission Local reports, his tentative trial date was set for May 20 on Friday – although the defense may seek further delays.
But for the change of venue motion, the judge didn't believe an impartial, home-grown jury could be assembled in San Francisco.
“Yes, he is the CashApp founder, but the court believes that killing him is the reason individuals are becoming more aware of him,” Judge Eric Fleming said, according to Mission Local.
The defense team surveyed 100 SF residents and found that while 86 percent had heard of the murder case, only 41 people agreed that Lee was a “Silicon Valley icon.” And less than a third said they had already formed an opinion about Nema Momeni based on news articles about the case.
Fleming said he thought about whether gruesome or gory details of the murder had been shared widely with the public and concluded that this case didn't really fit that description, Mission Local reports. And he added that potential jurors were equally likely to have “negative opinions and potential biases” toward the defendant, in this case being against the victim.
Bradford Cohen, who is part of the defense team recruited from Florida to defend Momeni after he apparently fired local defense attorney Paula Caney, admitted to Mission Local outside the courtroom that “we always file these motions,” referring to refers to the application for a change of jurisdiction.
While this was a defeat for the defense, they had a victory last week when Judge Fleming ruled in their favor in a request for seven years of phone records from Bob Lee's cell phones.
“The prosecution will seize both of Bob Lee’s phones for seven years because that’s when Bob Lee met Khazar Momeni – and the government maintains that relationship was legitimate,” attorney Saam Zangeneh told Mission Local.
Khazar Momeni, Nima Momeni's sister, is at the center of this case and Nema's possible motive for stabbing Lee. Lee had been in a romantic relationship of sorts with married Khazar Momeni for seven years and – having moved to Miami – was in town on business when the murder occurred.
According to evidence publicly released in previous court documents, on April 3, 2023, Lee and Khazar Momeni had spent the day together and attended a party at an individual's apartment at 1550 Mission Street. This person has been identified multiple times as Lee's friend or drug dealer, and it has been alleged that something inappropriate happened to Khazar Momeni while she was there, for which Nima Momeni may have blamed Lee.
Lee and Nima Momeni were seen on surveillance footage leaving Khazar's Millenium Tower apartment in the early hours of April 4, about 20 minutes before the stabbing occurred a few blocks away. The kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon may have come from a set in Khazar Momeni's kitchen.
Previously: Lawyers for Bob Lee murder suspect Nima Momeni want to move the trial from San Francisco
Pictured above: Nima Momeni arrives in court at the Hall of Justice on May 18, 2023 in San Francisco, California. 38-year-old technology entrepreneur Nima Momeni was charged in a San Francisco courtroom today in connection with the stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. Momeni pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. (Photo by Paul Kuroda-Pool/Getty Images)
