San Francisco

Bob Lee murder case: Nima Momeni's trial resumes with police investigator's testimony

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The high-profile murder trial of Nima Momeni, charged in the killing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, resumed Wednesday.

Most of the day’s testimony was from a San Francisco police investigator who collected security camera videos and compiled a timeline of the hours leading up to Lee’s fatal stabbing.

The timeline began with lobby and elevator footage establishing Lee and a friend at 1550 Mission St., which is where Jeremy Boivin lives.

At some point, Lee leaves with his friend. Boivin later leaves with Nima Momeni's sister Khazar Momeni.

Next, Khazar's white Mercedes Benz is seen arriving at the Millennium Tower, where she has a home. Nima is seen arriving, and then Boivin arrives.

The videos next establish Lee and his friend at a bar at 717 Battery St. They then head to an apartment at 250 King St.

At 12:43 a.m., Lee is seen arriving at the Millennium Tower.

About one hour and 15 minutes later, Lee and Nima enter an elevator together – Nima wearing white clothes and Lee wearing dark clothes. They head out of the lobby of the Millennium Tower, sit in Nima's white BMW for a few minutes and then leave.

Several more street security cameras track the white BMW driving from the Millennium Tower to the 400 block of Main Street, the location where Lee was fatally stabbed and where a knife was found.

Police were able to obtain Nest camera video from a resident on the ninth floor of a nearby building. Even when the dark and grainy video is zoomed in, only a white blob and a black blob are seen. At some point, the white blob lunges toward the black blob and the black blob eventually walks up the street.

Several videos then show a white BMW making a U-turn near the scene, running a red light and then arriving more than 15 minutes later at Nima's condominium in Emeryville.

"Putting together this timeline is essential to the prosecution's case," legal analyst Steven Clark said. "And what they're going to argue is that the time that Mr. Momeni and Bob Lee were together before the altercation is time for Mr. Momeni to premeditate this murder."

The defense is expected to argue Nima was trying to defend himself. Prosecutors will argue the opposite.

"If this was truly self-defense, the prosecution is going to say, 'Why didn't Mr. Momeni alert the police? Why did he throw away the knife?'" Clark said.

The day's testimony wrapped up with a police sergeant describing the search of the Millennium Tower and what they found there.

The trial will resume Thursday.

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