The bizarre sidebar story to the Bob Lee murder trial, in which the sister of the prime suspect was arrested for a DUI last month in the Tenderloin that allegedly involved plowing into several parked cars and might have involved whip-its at 11 a.m. on a Monday, is in a holding pattern.
Khazar Momeni, 38, the sister of murder suspect Nima Momeni, was arrested the Monday after Thanksgiving for a suspect DUI incident and hit-and-run at Larkin and Geary Streets. Ms. Momeni was allegedly driving an expensive car at the time — a white Mercedes AMG C 63 convertible with a red top — and this was, again, at 11 a.m. on a Monday.
Subsequent to the arrest, cellphone video from a bystander — who said his car was one of those hit by Ms. Momeni's car — appeared to show a canister of laughing gas or whip-its on the driver's seat of the Mercedes.
On Monday, December 11, per the Chronicle, the SF District Attorney's Office announced that charges had not yet been filed in the case, and it was being discharged due a delay in the toxicology report from the medical examiner's office.
"Discharging cases involving a blood draw for toxicology due to a delay in receiving the toxicology report is very common and not unusual," said a spokesperson for the DA's office in a statement.
The November 27 arrest of Ms. Momeni came three days before her brother was set to appear in court for a hearing in the Lee murder case. At that hearing, attorneys for Nima Momeni filed a motion for a change of venue, claiming their client could not get a fair trial in San Francisco due to the barrage of media coverage about the case.
Subsequent to the hearing, last week, we learned via the SF Standard that Khazar Momeni had been arrested in September on suspicion of DUI in Marin County. In that similar sounding incident, Momeni's white Mercedes allegedly rammed into another car on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in San Anselmo. Momeni was reportedly detained and her car was towed in that incident.
Also similarly, Ms. Momeni has not been charged in that case, and it remains under review.
Khazar Momeni is expected to be a central figure in the trial of her brother, even though she may refuse to testify in the case. She has reportedly declined to cooperate with the investigation, which involved a search of the Millennium Tower condo she shared with her husband, plastic surgeon Dino Elyassnia.
Witnesses have told investigators that Nima Momeni came to his sister's aid on April 3 after she said she had been drugged by an individual connected to Lee. Lee was allegedly summoned to her Millennium Tower condo after midnight on April 4, where he was later seen exiting the building with Nima Momeni. Police subsequently obtained a text message from Khazar to Lee after the two men had left, apologizing for her brother being "hard" on him.
The murder weapon, investigators seem to believe, was a kitchen knife that belonged to a set in Khazar Momeni's kitchen, and that is expected to be a central piece of evidence in the case as well.
Nima Momeni is due back in court in late January for a hearing on the change of venue request.
Previously: Sister of Murder Suspect Nima Momeni Allegedly Seen With Whip-its In Her Car Before Crash
Photo: Khazar Elyassnia (C) arrives for the arraignment of her brother Nima Momeni on May 18, 2023 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
