SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — On Wednesday, jurors watched surveillance video for the first time that captures — according to prosecutors — the moment Bob Lee was fatally stabbed by Nima Momeni on a dark street corner under the Bay Bridge around 2:30 a.m. on April 4, 2023. The Nest video was recorded from the window of a residential apartment nine stories above street-level.
The video shows two figures, one dressed in black clothes and the other dressed in white clothes, who appear as tiny specks on the sidewalk below. Massive pillars of metal holding up the Bay Bridge tower over the figures.
Prosecutors said Momeni was the figure dressed in white, and Lee was the figure dressed in black.
Reporters in the courtroom gallery stood up trying to decipher what the jury was viewing.
The only witness who testified on Wednesday morning was San Francisco Police Department Officer Milad Rashidian. Officer Rashidian was in charge of creating a “compilation” of surveillance videos.
After watching the grainy video of the stabbing, jurors watched a far more detailed and clear street-level surveillance camera’s video. The camera recorded Lee staggering on Main Street, bleeding heavily, and desperately looking for anyone who could help him. The video shows that Lee was able to flag down one passing motorist.
But the car only paused for a moment and drove away, leaving the tech mogul behind and alone. Lee’s ex-wife gasped as she watched the father of her two children collapse on the street, suffering from severe blood loss.
The ex-wife, Krista Lee, was allowed to listen in the courtroom gallery on Wednesday after she had been banned by Judge Alexandra Gordon last week. Krista Lee was forbidden from entering the courtroom during the final stretch of testimony delivered by Nima Momeni’s sister, Khazar Momeni.
Khazar testified for four days on the stand, describing her relationship with Bob Lee, party lifestyle, and heavy drug use. Throughout Khazar’s testimony, she defended her brother’s character.
On the fourth day of Khazar’s testimony, Krista Lee’s emotions exploded in the courthouse hallway. When reporters asked about Khazar, Krista Lee declared, “She can go f*** herself.”
The night of April 3, less than three hours before the Cash App founder was stabbed, Nima Momeni, Bob Lee, and Khazar were inside her apartment in Millenium Tower. Khazar told the jury that her brother and Bob Lee were friendly toward each other, and Nima Momeni never showed malice or aggression.
The two men left Khazar’s apartment around 2 a.m. and drove away together in Nima Momeni’s white BMW.
Prosecutors said, instead of taking Bob Lee back to his room at 1 Hotel, Nima Momeni drove the victim to a dimly light street corner under the Bay Bridge because he planned to kill him. Prosecutors said a bloody knife found at the crime scene had been taken from Khazar’s kitchen. Bob Lee’s blood was on the blade and Nima Momeni’s DNA was on the handle, according to testimony.
The prosecutor asked, “given how grainy it is,” what SFPD Officer Milad Rashidian was able to see from the Nest video.
“See a subject in white and a subject in black. The subject in white advances toward the subject in black three or four times,” the officer said.
The prosecutor asked, “Did you do everything you could to find a better, more clear video?”
The officer answered, “Yes, I did a lot of canvassing. I also tried to change the contrast, however, I ended up leaving it the way it was.”
Referring to the street-level video of Bob Lee looking for help, the officer said, “He appears to be looking at his chest. He appears to be signaling to a passing vehicle for help.”
The prosecutor asked, “Does that car allow Mr. Lee into his vehicle?”
“It does not appear so,” the officer answered.
As Bob Lee lay dying in the street, Nima Momeni fled the scene in his white BMW by driving over the Bay Bridge, prosecutors said.
Jurors watched surveillance video of the BMW passing through a tunnel and returning to his apartment in Emeryville at 2:47 a.m.
Defense attorney Bradford Cohen cross-examined Officer Rashidian.
Cohen asked, “You don’t know where they are going?” Rashidian answered, “Correct.”
The officer testified that Nima Momeni and Bob Lee were inside the BMW for 10-15 minutes under the bridge before the homicide happened. Rashidian worked together with prosecutors to slice up, speed up, and zoom in on videos to create the compilation.
The Nest video was recorded from a ninth-floor apartment at 403 Main Street, Rashidian testified. Rashidian said the building’s manager and the apartment’s resident gave him access to the video.
After the Nest video appeared in news reports online, the manager claimed it must have been “hacked” and leaked to the media, the officer testified.
“The manager emailed me directly after the video was published online in the media. He believed that it was hacked. I said I don’t believe it was hacked,” the officer said.
The defense attorney asked the officer if it looked like a “figure in white” was “circling” the figure in black.
“They were moving around,” Rashidian answered.
Cohen asked if police were ever able to track down the motorist who was flagged down but failed to help Bob Lee. Rashidian said police never identified nor found the driver.
Cohen said, “There was a portion where a white car pulls up, that would be the last person who had an interaction with Mr. Lee.”
Cohen questioned why police never bothered to track the person down.
“That was not my main focus. My focus was finding a suspect,” Rashidian testified.
Once cross-examination wrapped up, some jurors told the judge that they have questions for Officer Rashidian. Judge Gordon said the jury’s questions will be asked after a lunch break. A new witness will be called by prosecutors to the stand on Wednesday afternoon.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — On Wednesday, jurors watched surveillance video for the first time that captures — according to prosecutors — the moment Bob Lee was fatally stabbed by Nima Momeni on a dark street corner under the Bay Bridge around 2:30 a.m. on April 4, 2023. The Nest video was recorded from the window […]