The much anticipated trial of Nima Momeni for the April 2023 murder of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee is getting ready to begin, and the defense team has laid out more of their argument for why they say their client is innocent.

The most high-profile murder trial of the year in San Francisco kicks off next month, and we now know more than we ever have about the prosecution's evidence, and about the defense's intended strategy for arguing self-defense.

In recent court filings reported on by Mission Local and by KPIX, we learn that Momeni believed both Bob Lee and a man named Jeremy Boivin were responsible for the "attempted rape" of Momeni's sister, Khazar Momeni, at a gathering at Boivin's apartment the afternoon before the murder. Prosecutors will argue that Momeni was an overprotective brother who sought vengence for what he believed had happened to his sister.

Khazar Momeni texted her brother at least once that Lee "never touched" her. She also called her brother "psychotic" in a text that day, and said "you scare me."

There is reportedly evidence of a video call between Momeni and Lee which occurred prior to Lee arriving at Khazar Momeni's condo in Millennium Tower, where he spent over an hour with the two siblings before leaving with Nima Momeni and getting into his car.

The prosecution has grainy surveillance footage of the actual stabbing — a figure that looks like Momeni makes a lunging motion toward a figure that looks like Lee, and then makes a tossing gesture over his head. This occurred in an area beneath the Bay Bridge in Rincon Hill where the murder weapon, a five-inch kitchen knife, was later found.

As we learned last week, the prosecution also has footage of Momeni meeting with a private investigator at his former defense lawyer's parking lot the day before his arrest, in which he is allegedly seen reenacting the crime — making "three distinct stabbing gestures and an overhand throwing gesture."

The video was clandestinely shot by an SFPD detective, and the defense is seeking to get this video thrown out, claiming it should be protected by attorney-client privilege.

"There has to be a province of attorney-client privilege. And even if they didn't know it at the time that they were conducting their surveillance, they know now," says defense attorney Saam Zangeneh, speaking to KPIX. "And so the fact that they're attempting to kind of circumvent that substantial privilege that a person has when they believe that they're speaking and having a meeting, under the safe umbrella of attorney-client privilege that they're attempting to pierce it. So obviously, that's someone's consent. That's someone's right. You know, you have a right to have confidentiality and confidential communications with your legal team, and that's what we're trying to protect."

Zangeneh says he will present evidence that Momeni did not know that Lee was fatally wounded, and he further tells the station, "We're going to poke holes [in the prosecution's case], and we're going to show holes. We're going to open the eyes to the jury of the mistakes that were made."

He has suggested that the SFPD failed to propertly process the murder weapon, and that if they had sought fingerprints from it, they would have found Lee's fingerprints.

The prosecution will show DNA evidence that has only Momeni's DNA on the knife handle, and Lee's DNA on the blade.

In the argument for self-defense, the attorneys plan to argue that it was Lee who turned aggressive in the moments when the two men were alone. "Nima was concerned about his sister's safety due to Bob's altered state, recent flash of aggression and statements made by Bob Lee at the scene," the defense said in a court filing.

It remains unclear whether Momeni will take the stand in his own defense, but the attorneys are leaving open the possibility.

The prosecution seems to have ample text evidence that shows Momeni's evasive behavior in the days after the murder, in texts between him and his sister.

As Mission Local earlier reported, via court documents, Nima Momeni appears to have lied to Khazar about "dropping off" Lee, rather than admitting that the two had gotten into a violent altercation.

"I don’t know what [Lee] ended up doing at the bar or strip club, I just came home," Momeni said in a text.

Khazar Momeni responded on April 5 "I’m gonno [sic] get to the bottom of this and find out what happened to bob," and she asked "where do [sic] you drop him off." Nima Momeni was apparently evasive about that question, and then the two didn't text each other for three days — which the prosecution will argue was unusual for the siblings.

Lee was found with multiple stab wounds on the morning of April 4 and later died on the operating table at SF General. He was publicly identified as the victim on April 5.

Update: Mission Local reports from the courtroom today that the trial did not quite get underway, but that the judge in the case, Judge Alexandra Gordon, heard pretrial motions from both sides. The prosecution scored some wins, including a motion to prevent Lee's nickname, "Crazy Bob," from being used in the trial. And the judge ruled that most of the evidence from Lee's multiple cellphones would be inadmissable as well. The defense reportedly tried to get the murder weapon removed from evidence, but the judge rejected that motion.

All previous coverage of the Bob Lee murder case on SFist.

Top image: Nima Momeni arrives in court at the Hall of Justice on May 18, 2023 in San Francisco, California. 38 year-old tech entrepreneur Nima Momeni was arraigned today in a San Francisco courtroom in connection with the stabbing murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee. Momeni pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. (Photo by Paul Kuroda-Pool/Getty Images)

This post has been corrected to show that the actual trial start date was delayed until October, but these were reports from some initial, pre-trial court proceedings.