SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — In the midst of a San Francisco jury’s marathon deliberation, Nima Momeni’s defense team attempted to persuade a judge to throw out the entire trial. Jurors began their sixth day of deliberations on Thursday attempting to reach a verdict. Momeni is charged with murdering tech star Bob Lee under the Bay Bridge in April of 2023.
This week, defense attorneys filed a motion asking Judge Alexandra Gordon to declare a mistrial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct. Momeni’s defense team accused prosecutors of eliciting “perjured testimony” from their star witness, Borzu “Bo” Mohazabbi, in front of jurors.
Mohazabbi took the stand to testify early in the murder trial on October 16 and 17. He was close friends with Lee, works in the tech industry, and performs as a DJ, according to testimony. His Instagram page includes a photos of Mohazabbi DJing at festivals around the Bay Area and partying with Diddy at Burning Man.
Defense attorneys filed a motion on Monday claiming Mohazzabi committed perjury on the stand. During direct examination, “the witness stated under oath that he affirmatively did not engage in drug use, specifically cocaine. This testimony was false, as evidenced by surveillance video outside Battery Club from the night in question, which is part of the discovery in this case. The video clearly shows the witness with the victim, while the two of them are snorting cocaine. The witness’s false testimony directly bolstered the prosecution’s case, prejudicing the Defendant and undermining the integrity of these proceedings,” the motion states.
Behind closed courtroom doors, Judge Gordon denied the mistrial motion and jurors continued deliberating for a potential verdict.
As the founder of Cash App and executive for cryptocurrency company MobileCoin, Lee was a popular and respected tech mogul. He spent his last three days alive partying with friends around San Francisco, including: Mohazzabi, Momeni’s younger sister, Khazar; and Lee’s alleged drug dealer, Jeremy Boivin.
Around 2:30 a.m. on April 4, 2023, Lee called 911 begging for help as he stumbled away from the Bay Bridge and bled to death on Main Street. Prosecutors said Momeni is a cold-blooded murderer who stabbed Lee to get revenge for Khazar after she was sexually assaulted by Boivin. Khazar and Boivin met each other for the first time on April 3, 2023 when Lee introduced them and they used party drugs together, according to testimony.
On the witness stand, Mohazzabi said he overheard a heated phone call between Momeni and Lee the night before the homicide. He testified that Momeni called Lee to “interrogate” him about what happened when Lee, Mohazzabi, Khazar, and Boivin were together in the drug dealer’s apartment. Khazar testified that she told her brother that Boivin gave her a “date rape” drug GHB, pulled her pants down, and sexually assaulted her before she woke up face-down on his bed.
Prosecutors painted Khazar, 39, as Momeni’s motive for murder. Lee and Mohazzabi had left the apartment before the sexual assault happened, but prosecutors said Momeni still blamed Lee for what happened.
Khazar, who is married to a wealthy plastic surgeon, and Lee, a divorced father of two, reportedly had a casual dating relationship. Khazar called Lee “babe” in some flirty messages, and wrote “love you,” in others.
Boivin told police that Khazar invited him over to her luxury apartment in Millennium Tower around the same time that Lee was stabbed to death. Khazar testified that she invited Boivin over, just hours after she accused him of sexual assault, because she wanted more drugs from him. Khazar’s husband caught her in bed with Boivin on April 4, 2023, Momeni testified.
In closing arguments, defense attorney Saam Zangeneh played a surveillance video showing Lee and Mohazzabi standing outside The Battery bar and allegedly sniffing cocaine on the night of April 3, 2023. In front of the jury, Zangeneh suddenly declared that the video shows Lee using a knife to sniff cocaine. He boldly implied that it was the same knife that police found near the homicide scene. The video was too grainy for reporters in the courtroom to know if the object in Lee’s hand was a knife or something else.
Lee’s family called the defense’s claim outrageous. The victim’s brother told reporters, “Nima Momeni did not only kill Bob … now he’s trying to kill his character, trying to kill his legacy. Bob was a great man. For this person to try and traumatize us again and again, it’s horrible.”
Prosecutors said Lee was unarmed when he was slain. For closing arguments, Mohazzabi sat in the courtroom gallery with Lee’s family to show support for his grieving children and ex-wife. He politely declined to talk to reporters.
The defense team’s motion states that Mohazzabi’s testimony violated Momeni’s right to a fair trial because prosecutors have a “constitutional duty to correct the false impression of the facts. The prosecutor sat silently as his witness lied.”
“Given the gravity of the prosecutor’s misconduct and the resulting prejudice to the Defendant, no lesser remedy than a mistrial can ensure the Defendant’s right to a fair trial. The impact of the false testimony on the jury cannot be undone,” defense attorneys wrote.
Judge Gordon disagreed and struck down the motion.
Twelve jurors have deliberated for six days without reaching a verdict. Momeni, 40, is charged with first-degree murder. Jurors must decide: Did Momeni stab Lee to death as a premeditated act of murderous revenge? Or, was the defendant telling the truth when he testified that he acted in self-defense?
Earlier in the trial, Momeni claimed he made a joke about Lee spending time with strippers instead of his family, Lee “blew up” with anger, and the victim pulled out a knife. Momeni told jurors that he fought back in self-defense.
If jurors believe Momeni killed Lee in self-defense, they could find him not guilty of murder, and guilty of manslaughter. Judge Gordon’s instructions for jurors state, “Your verdict on each count must be unanimous. This means that, to return a verdict, all of you must agree to it. You must reach your verdict without any consideration of punishment.”
Legal analysts said there are likely disagreements between jurors in the deliberation room.
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — In the midst of a San Francisco jury’s marathon deliberation, Nima Momeni’s defense team attempted to persuade a judge to throw out the entire trial. Jurors began their sixth day of deliberations on Thursday attempting to reach a verdict. Momeni is charged with murdering tech star Bob Lee under the Bay […]
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