Murder trial of tech consultant in stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee to go to jurors

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Closing arguments in the high-profile murder trial of a tech consultant charged in the stabbing death of Cash App founder Bob Lee concluded Tuesday, with both sides urging jurors to use their common sense to deliver justice.

The case is expected to go to the jury for deliberation Wednesday.

Prosecutors, who delivered their closing Monday, say Nima Momeni planned the April, 2023, attack after hearing that the tech mogul had introduced his younger sister to a drug dealer who she says gave her GHB and other drugs and then sexually assaulted her at his apartment.

Momeni lured Lee to an isolated spot by the Bay Bridge, stabbed him three times with a knife from his sister’s kitchen set and drove away in his car, they say.

Defense attorneys say Lee was on a multiday cocaine and alcohol bender and attacked Momeni with the knife over a bad joke, forcing the consultant to defend himself. Momeni testified during trial that Lee later walked away, showing no signs he was injured.

If convicted, the 40-year-old Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison. The trial began Oct. 14.

One of his five attorneys, Saam Zangeneh, said Tuesday that Momeni was not angry with Lee so he had no motive to kill him. And even if he had a motive to kill, Zangeneh asked, why would he use an old “beat-up” paring knife after leaving a high-security condo with Lee, knowing there's surveillance cameras everywhere?

“They have to prove to you guys beyond a reasonable doubt that it wasn’t self defense," Zangeneh said.

Surveillance video shows the two men leaving the posh condo of the defendant’s sister, Khazar Momeni, around 2 a.m. and getting into Momeni’s BMW. Other surveillance footage then shows them getting out of the car near the Bay Bridge, where the stabbing took place.

Lee was found staggering on a deserted downtown San Francisco street at 2:30 a.m., dripping a trail of blood and calling for help. He later died at a hospital.

Omid Talai, an assistant district attorney, said in court Tuesday that Lee, 43, died far too young.

“But he does not always need to be a man who died without justice. Help is what he begged for, he was dying and crying for help while the defendant drove away,” he said. “Help Bob by following the law and using your common sense.”

The murder weapon — a paring knife with a roughly 4-inch blade — had Momeni's DNA on its handle and Lee's DNA on the blade. Defense attorneys said DNA evidence was not definitive and at the least, both blade and handle should have shown DNA from both men.

The afternoon before the stabbing, Lee and Khazar Momeni had been doing drugs and drinking at the apartment of a drug dealer Lee knew. Lee left before Nima Momeni went to pick up his sister, who told him she had been assaulted.

A friend of Lee's testified Momeni then grilled Lee over the phone about what happened to his sister while at the drug dealer’s apartment. Zangeneh attacked the friend's credibility and also replayed surveillance video showing that Lee had been angry at one point, and not the peaceful “teddy bear” family and friends described him to be.

Video and text messages show Momeni then met up with with Lee at his sister's condo. She eventually kicked them out, saying she needed to sleep. The men departed.

Momeni testified he stopped his car after going over a pothole that caused Lee to spill the beer he was holding. Momeni said he then cracked a joke suggesting Lee should spend the last night of his visit with family instead of trying to find a strip club to keep the party going.

That's when he says Lee pulled out the knife from his jacket pocket, and attacked.

"I was scared for my life,” Momeni said in earlier testimony that was at times rambling and contentious.

The prosecution mocked Momeni’s story, pointing out that he never called police to report Lee’s alleged attack or even after he learned Lee had died of stab wounds on the street where he had last seen him.

Prosecutors showed text messages Khazar Momeni sent her brother, asking where he had dropped off Lee — a question he sidestepped. She also sent a text message to Lee checking on him because her brother came “down hard on you” and to thank him for “handling it with class.” On the witness stand, she said she didn't remember much from that time.

In its closing, the prosecution showed video of Lee leaving the condo with Momeni, his jacket flapping to show there was no knife hidden inside.

In its closing, the defense showed video of Lee and his friend several hours earlier, doing lines of cocaine off the tip of what they said was a knife the exact size and shape of the murder weapon.

Mahnaz Tayarani, right, in white coat, mother of Nima Momeni, who is charged with murder in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death, watches as defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, bottom left, speaks to reporters after exiting the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for Momeni's murder trial Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Timothy Oliver Lee, left, brother of Cash App founder Bob Lee, walks to Department 28 to enter the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Mahnaz Tayarani, left, mother of Nima Momeni – who is charged with murder in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death – walks to Department 28 to enter the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for Momeni's murder trial Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Defense attorneys Saam Zangeneh, center, and Bradford Cohen, right, speak to reporters after exiting the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Timothy Oliver Lee, second from right, brother of Cash App founder Bob Lee, speaks to reporters after exiting the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, right, walks out of the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Rick Lee, center, father of Cash App founder Bob Lee, walks to Department 28 to enter the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Mahnaz Tayarani, center, mother of Nima Momeni, who is charged with murder in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death, records video as defense attorney Saam Zangeneh speaks to reporters after exiting the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for Momeni's murder trial Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Mahnaz Tayarani, left, mother of Nima Momeni – who is charged with murder in Cash App founder Bob Lee's stabbing death – waits to enter the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for Momeni's murder trial Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, top left, speaks to reporters after exiting the courtroom at the Hall of Justice for the murder trial of Nima Momeni, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Wednesday in just its second major transgender rights case, a challenge to a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors.

The nation’s top court will be weighing whether Tennessee’s law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, requiring that people in similar circumstances be treated the same under the law. Both sides in the case claim they are acting to protect minors from harm.

At least 26 states have adopted laws restricting or banning such care for minors, and most of those states face lawsuits.

Here's the latest:

The Supreme Court almost always issues its decisions by early summer, usually before the end of June. The transgender health case could be one of the last cases decided, which is typical of highly contentious issues. One additional potential cause for delay is the Trump administration could weigh in soon after Trump takes office. It’s not clear how that might affect the case.

Chase Strangio will be the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the nation’s highest court, representing families who say Tennessee’s ban on health care for transgender minors leaves their children terrified about the future.

Strangio will bring months of intense legal preparation to the case as well as hard-won lessons from his own experience.

“I am able to do my job because I have had this health care that transformed and, frankly, saved my life,” he said. “I am a testament to the fact that we live among everyone.”

Strangio grew up outside of Boston and came out as trans when he was in law school. Now 42, he’s an American Civil Liberties Union attorney whose legal career has included representing former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, challenging a ban on transgender people serving in the military and helping win an LGBTQ+ worker-discrimination case at the Supreme Court. He’s also the father of a 12-year-old, the son of a father who supports Trump, and has a close relationship with his Army-veteran brother.

▶ Read more about Strangio and his history as a transgender advocate

The Supreme Court’s only other major case on transgender rights was in 2020 when the court ruled that workplace discrimination against LGBTQ+ people was sex discrimination in violation of the federal civil rights law commonly known as Title VII.

The court concluded, in separate cases involving a gay man and a transgender woman, that they were discriminated against because of their sex. Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of Donald Trump’s in his first term in the White House, wrote the 6-3 opinion for the court. Chief Justice John Roberts was the only other conservative member of the court in the majority.

The nation’s top court will be weighing whether Tennessee’s law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, requiring that people in similar circumstances be treated the same under the law. Both sides in the case claim they are acting to protect minors from harm.

Transgender attorney Chase Strangio will represent families who say Tennessee’s ban leaves them terrified for the future and that access to this kind of care is life-saving.

Tennessee, meanwhile, will argue before the Supreme Court that treatments like puberty blockers and hormones carry risks for young people and its law protects them from making treatment decisions prematurely.

The Supreme Court is framed by the columns of the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. T (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Advocates gather for a rally at the state Capitol complex in Nashville, Tenn., to oppose a series of bills that target the LGBTQ community, Feb. 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jonathan Mattise, File)

FILE - People attend a rally as part of a Transgender Day of Visibility, Friday, March 31, 2023, by the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Nov. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)