Tech consultant goes on trial in death of Cash App founder Bob Lee

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The tech consultant charged in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death had no motive to kill him and in fact was forced to defend himself against Lee, who had become aggressive while on a multiday drug bender, lawyers for Nima Momeni said in opening statements Monday.

Prosecutors say Momeni, 40, planned the April 4, 2023, attack after a dispute over his younger sister, Khazar, with whom Lee was friends. They say Momeni took a knife from a unique set in his sister’s condo, drove Lee to a secluded area and stabbed him three times, then fled.

“Stabbed through his heart and left to die,” said Omid Talai, assistant district attorney, “our victim was stabbed repeatedly, once in his chest, once in his hip and literally one puncturing his heart.”

Lee’s death at age 43 — after staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street seeking help — stunned the tech community, and fellow executives and engineers penned tributes to the charismatic entrepreneur's generosity and brilliance. Lee was chief product officer of cryptocurrency platform MobileCoin when he died. He was a father to two children.

Judge Alexandra Gordon has told jurors the long-awaited trial that began Monday in San Francisco Superior Court is expected to last two months. Momeni, who lives in nearby Emeryville, California, has been in custody since his arrest days after Lee died at a San Francisco hospital.

Momeni has pleaded not guilty. He faces 26 years to life in prison if convicted.

Lawyer Saam Zangeneh told jurors that defense attorneys will show that Momeni bore Lee no ill will and that wound patterns show that Momeni was forced to defend himself after Lee pulled a knife out of his pocket, high on drugs and having slept only six hours over a four-day period of doing cocaine and drinking.

“We feel that once we present this case ... and once we fill in the gaps, the only viable verdict in this case is a verdict of not guilty,” Zangeneh said. “Somebody’s dead. Nobody likes that, but you have the right to defend yourself.”

Momeni, seen at previous court hearings in orange jail clothing, was seated Monday with his lawyers, wearing a dark suit. His mother, who has been a steadfast presence at hearings, was in the courtroom.

On the other side of the courtroom sat members of Lee’s family, including his ex-wife, father and brother. Lee's brother put an arm around his father when the 911 call Lee made was replayed in court.

In it, Lee is heard repeatedly asking for help, unable to answer the dispatcher's questions about where he was and what his name was. He said he had been stabbed.

Talai, the assistant district attorney, said jurors will hear from a friend of Lee’s, who was with him and Momeni’s sister the day before Lee was stabbed.

The friend will testify that Momeni angrily grilled Lee on the phone that night over his sister, drugs and “girls getting naked,” acting like “an overprotective, wannabe tough guy” while Lee was being mellow and happy, Talai said.

Zangeneh said he will show that the friend is not a reliable witness and that Momeni and Lee had traded friendly texts that night. Lee likely invited Momeni to join him at a strip club, Zangeneh said.

Surveillance video of Lee’s final night shows him entering the posh Millennium Tower downtown, where Momeni’s sister lives with her husband, a prominent San Francisco plastic surgeon.

Video shows Lee and Momeni leaving the building after 2 a.m. and driving off together in Momeni’s car.

Other video will show the two men getting out of the car in a isolated spot by the Bay Bridge, and then Momeni stabbing Lee three times, tossing the knife from his sister’s kitchen set and quickly driving away, Talai said.

Talai said the prosecution will share text messages in which Momeni, the following morning, tells his sister he did not know what happened to Lee that night but that he was preparing a rape case against him, thinking Lee had assaulted Khazar.

The attorney said video recorded by a San Francisco police detective trailing Momeni before his arrest shows him reenacting the three stabbing motions outside his previous lawyer’s office, but no reenactment of a struggle over the knife that Momeni's attorneys say Lee wielded first.

Police recovered a knife with a 4-inch (10-centimeter) blade in the secluded area where Lee was stabbed. Prosecutors said tests showed Momeni’s DNA on the weapon’s handle and Lee’s DNA on the bloody blade.

Zangeneh said Monday that police should have tested the handle for fingerprints, namely Lee’s. He scoffed at the idea of Momeni bringing what was essentially a "paring” knife from his sister's kitchen to kill Lee, and said that Momeni did not realize Lee was hurt, much less fatally wounded.

He said his client is eager to tell his side of the story, but they haven’t decided whether Momeni will testify in his defense.

Family members for Momeni and Lee declined to comment Monday.

Attorney Saam Zangeneh walks past members of the media in the hallway outside Department 28 at the Hall of Justice on the first day of the trial of Nima Momeni, on the first day of the trial of Nima Momeni, a tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in San Francisco. Momeni has pleaded not guilty. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Attorney Tony Brass leaves Department 28 at the Hall of Justice on the first day of the trial of Nima Momeni, a tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in San Francisco. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Tim Oliver Lee, right, brother of Cash App founder Bob Lee; Rick Lee, center, father of Bob Lee, Krista Lee, and other family members leave Department 28 at the Hall of Justice on the first day of the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in San Francisco,. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Tim Oliver Lee, left, brother of Cash App founder Bob Lee, Rick Lee, second left, father of Bob Lee; Krista Lee, fourth left, ex-wife of Bob Lee, and other family members of Bob Lee walk to Department 28 to enter the courtroom at the Hall of Justice on the first day of the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024 in San Francisco. (Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

FILE - Flowers sit at a tree in front of the building where a technology executive was fatally stabbed outside of in San Francisco, April 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - Nima Momeni, the man charged in the fatal stabbing of Cash App founder Bob Lee, makes his way into the courtroom for his arraignment in San Francisco, May 2, 2023. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP, Pool, File)

OAKS, Pa. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took their fight for Pennsylvania to opposite ends of the state Monday, with Harris speaking in the northwest corner in Erie and Trump in the southeastern suburbs of Philadelphia.

Democrat Harris and Republican Trump have been making regular appearances in what is the country's largest battleground state — it will be Harris' 10th visit to Pennsylvania this campaign season, and just last week Trump made stops in both Scranton and Reading.

Harris at an evening campaign rally planned to raise Trump’s comments over the weekend suggesting that the U.S. military be used to deal with “the enemy from within,” according to a senior Harris campaign official.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the remarks ahead of a campaign rally in Erie, said Harris will hammer home the idea that Trump sees Americans who disagree with him as enemies.

She’ll argue that the comments made in a Fox News “Sunday Morning Futures” interview are the latest example of threatening rhetoric from the former president that should concern Americans about what a potential second Trump term could look like.

Trump, responding to a question about “outside agitators” potentially disrupting Election Day, pivoted to a foe closer to home.

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” Trump said. He added: “We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the big — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.”

Trump beat Hillary Clinton by more than 40,000 votes in Pennsylvania on his way to winning the presidency in 2016. But Joe Biden, a Scranton native, beat Trump by about 80,000 votes in the state four years ago.

Harris will be holding a rally in Erie, a Democratic majority city of about 94,000 people bordered by suburbs and rural areas with significant numbers of Republicans. Erie County is often cited as one of the state's reliable bellwether regions, where the electorate has a decidedly moderate voting record. Trump visited Erie on Sept. 29.

Harris, 59, in the rally speech will also criticize Trump for only releasing limited information about his health over the years, according to the campaign official.

The White House on Saturday released a letter from Harris’ doctor that summarizes her medical history declaring the vice president is in “excellent health” and “possesses the physical and mental resiliency" required to be president.

If Trump, who is 78, were to be elected next month, he would be the oldest president in U.S. history by the time his term ends in 2029.

Harris also plans to talk up early voting during her rally. Mail-in voting is well underway in the state where some 7 million people are likely to cast votes in the presidential race.

Beforehand, she stopped by a newly opened coffee shop and record store in Erie as she continues to press her case for Black men’s support.

The visit to LegendErie Records and Coffee House, a Black-owned small business, came after her campaign unveiled a plan earlier Monday to give Black men more economic opportunities and other chances. The campaign is trying to step up outreach to Black men, a key voting bloc that has some Democrats concerned about a possible lack of enthusiasm.

Trump spoke at a town hall Monday in suburban Oaks. Responding to a man who said his dream of homeownership feels out of reach, Trump said regulations make it too expensive to build in some places. He repeated his pledge to increase U.S. oil drilling, which he said would drive down costs, though domestic production is already at record highs.

“We’re going to drill baby drill, we’re going to have so much energy and we’re going to bring prices down,” Trump said.

He also claimed that government data from crime statistics to jobless numbers is “fake," alleging the numbers are manipulated to help the incumbent Democrats.

Tom Bonanno, who was waiting in line and said he lived in the area, said he believed there was greater enthusiasm for Trump this year than in the former president's two previous campaigns.

”I’m feeling a shift because the economy affects everyone," Bonanno said. "It’s not just going to be on, you’re feeling joy or happiness or whatever they’re running on. It’s about the economy once again.”

Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes, the most of any swing state, have generated the most attention by far from the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns. Including Monday’s scheduled events, they will have made 46 stops in the state, according to Associated Press tracking of the campaigns’ public events.

Michigan, with 33 visits, and Wisconsin, with 29, are the next most-visited states, illustrating how both campaigns are focusing on winning states that had been part of the Democrats’ so-called “blue wall” until Trump emerged as the Republican standard-bearer.

Democrats have won three straight elections for governor, and both current U.S. senators are Democrats, but the state's legislature is closely divided.

Cindy Sunday, 67, of Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, said she has been disappointed that the Biden administration undid some of Trump’s policies on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“I don’t care that people say ‘he says things that are off color, and this and that.’ Get over that," said Sunday, who went to Trump's rally in Oaks. "There are so many more serious things in life to be upset about. I just don’t go for that.”

Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Associated Press journalists Tassanee Vejpongsa in Oaks, Pennsylvania, Aamer Madhani in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, left, participates in a roundtable discussion with Black men during a visit to Legenderie Records and Coffee House, a Black-owned small business in Erie, Pa., during a campaign stop, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens at a campaign town hall at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center & Fairgrounds, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Oaks, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, right, greets Ishmael Trainor, owner of Legenderie Records and Coffee House, a Black-owned small business in Erie, Pa., during a campaign stop, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to board Air Force Two at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, en route to Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Harris and Trump will both campaign in battleground Pennsylvania on Monday

Harris and Trump will both campaign in battleground Pennsylvania on Monday

FILE - This combination of photos shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris during an ABC News presidential debate at the National Constitution Center, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)