The sentencing of Nima Momeni, who was convicted in late 2024 of the 2023 stabbing murder of tech founder Bob Lee, has been delayed once more as his new attorney argues there was racial or ethnic bias at play in his trial.

A judge has agreed to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of racial bias in the original trial of Nima Momeni, who was convicted in December 2024 of the murder of Bob Lee. Momeni, who traded attorneys last summer and has already had his sentencing delayed by over a year, is now seeking an appeal based on alleged bias at his trial on the part of the judge and attorneys.

As Mission Local reports, Momeni's attorney Daniel Shriro had a Tuesday hearing with San Francisco Superior Court Judge Patrick Thompson, who, while sounding skeptical of the arguments, ruled that an evidentiary hearing can go forward next month on the issue of racial or ethnic bias.

Momeni was born in Iran and immigrated to the US with his mother and sister when he was 14, and Shriro has suggested that jurors were presented with a portrayal of his client that included stereotypes of Middle Eastern men, Mission Local explains.

Among the issues Shriro pointed to was the permission by the judge in the trial, Judge Alexandra Gordon, for the prosecution to show jurors text messages in which Momeni's sister described him as an "overprotective psycho" and an "animal 24/7."

Shriro also, oddly, pointed to the emphasis at trial on the fact that Momeni drove a white BMW. And he pointed to an instance in which Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai referred to Lee's murder as an "honor killing."

Assistant District Attorney Natalie Fuchs reportedly called Shriro's arguments "abstract," and she noted that words like "psycho" and "lunatic" were exempt from the Racial Justice Act.

Per Mission Local, Judge Thompson conceded that while there was "not necessarily" any racial bias that is provable at the trial, "a nexus has been provided" for the evidentiary hearing to proceed on August 14.

Last summer, Momeni retained the services of the San Francisco-based legal team of Daniel Shriro and Boris Bindman as he seeks to appeal his conviction. His sentencing was, at that point, delayed until August 2025, with Judge Gordon saying she did not want to see it "unnecessarily delayed."

Momeni was convicted over 18 months ago of second-degree murder for the April 2023 stabbing death of Bob Lee, who had a previous romantic relationship with Momeni's married sister, Khazar Elyassnia. At trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Momeni, who had apparently offered to drive Lee back to his hotel after a late-night meeting at Elyassnia's apartment, stabbed Lee near the base of the Bay Bridge, seemingly out of rage over the treatment of his sister — whom he believed had been sexually assaulted earlier that day when Lee left her alone with another acquaintance.

Momeni faces a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.

In civil court, Lee's family is suing Momeni's sister, brother-in-law, and mother over their roles in an alleged cover-up in the case. And in December, we learned that Momeni had filed a lawsuit against multiple media organization, including the SF Standard, Los Angeles Times, and New York Post, for defamation.

Previously: Convicted Killer Nima Momeni Has New Lawyers, Won't Be Sentenced Until August or Later

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