The high-profile trial of Nima Momeni, the man accused of killing Cash App founder Bob Lee on the streets of San Francisco, resumed Monday.
Before the trial started, Momeni's defense team battled to try to prevent the jury from seeing a video shot by police that shows Momeni talking to what turned out to be an investigator for his first defense attorney. On Monday, the jury saw that video and heard from the officer who shot it.
The video was taken by Sgt. David Goff, who's part of SFPD's surveillance unit. He was assigned to track the white BMW that Momeni was driving the night Lee was stabbed to death.
Goff and his team ultimately figured out where Momeni lived in Emeryville. They also figured out he had access to two vehicles, the second being a blue Jeep SUV.
Goff testified Monday that investigators got a warrant to install a GPS tracker on that SUV. On April 10, 2023, seven days after Lee was killed, they tracked it to a sandwich shop in South San Francisco and then to an office complex in Burlingame.
Goff said that's where his team saw Momeni walking into a parking lot with another man. Then Goff started filming.
The video captured the exchange between Momeni and the man. In the video, jurors couldn't hear what they were talking about, but Goff testified Momeni could be seen making three stabbing motions toward the man. A few minutes later, he made an overhand throwing motion.
Prosecutors believe Momeni was recounting the killing.
Goff was asked several times if he ever saw Momeni motioning a struggle or fight. He said he did not. That was also not seen in the four minutes of video shown in court.
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"This is devastating evidence, potentially for the defense, because it impeaches the entire defense theory of self-defense," legal analyst Steven Clark said.
But Clark said the video also creates new challenges because the man Momeni was talking to is a private investigator for Attorney Paula Canny, Momeni's initial lawyer in the case.
"If Mr. Momeni thought he was communicating with his legal team when he's making these gestures on the video and communicating with the investigator, that could delve into the attorney–client privilege, and the question will be should the court have allowed this in?" Clark said.
Following Goff's testimony, deputy medical examiner Dr. Ellen Moffatt took the stand. Jurors and the court audience, which included some of Lee's family, were shown graphic autopsy photos.
Moffatt described the three stab wounds, two in the left chest and one in the right hip. She said the lower chest stab wound was the most shallow but turned out to be the most critical because it punctured Lee's heart.
Moffatt could not say what order the stab wounds were made.
She did say the last wound did seem consistent with a single-edged knife, which is similar to the knife found at the crime scene – the knife prosecutors believe Momeni used.
The trial continues Tuesday.
