The sister of Nima Momeni, the man accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee, was back in a San Francisco courtroom Tuesday for a third day of testimony.
It was the defense team's turn to question Khazar Momeni, and they focused on establishing a timeline of what happened before Lee’s death as well as Nima's demeanor in the days and hours before the killing.
The lead defense attorney questioned Khazar about text messages she shared with Lee days before he was killed. The texts dealt with getting together with him to do drugs. At one point, she said Lee was acting erratically.
Khazar told jurors, in the days before Lee was killed, she used several drugs, including LSD, cocaine and GHB.
"It will be interesting so see how much value the jury gives to Khazar's testimony, if she comes off not credible either because of her drug use or because of bias that she wants to help her brother," legal analyst Steven Clark said.
On Monday, Khazar testified she had been sexually assaulted by a friend of Lee after he gave her GHB. She said she had called her brother crying and asked him to pick her up from the man’s apartment.
The defense on Tuesday asked Khazar to discuss Nima's demeanor when he picked her up and drove her to her home. Khazar testified her brother was calm and comforting to her. She also said later that night when Nima was with Lee at her condo, she had no indication there was any bad blood between the two men. The defense also showed jurors a video of Lee and Nima talking in an elevator shortly before Lee was killed.
That's all significant because prosecutors have claimed Nima's motive for killing Lee was linked to something that happened to Khazar.
Meanwhile, the defense claims Nima killed Lee in self-defense after the tech executive pulled a knife in a drug-fueled rage.
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Khazar also told the court Tuesday she had been molested by a family member who is not Nima. It wasn't immediately clear what relevance that information will have on the case.
What is clear is Khazar has become a central witness for both sides.
"She has a wealth of knowledge about what led up to the homicide and she can testify as to both parties, Mr. Lee and her brother, their demeanor that evening," Clark said.
