The convicted killer of Cash App founder Bob Lee is seeking to overturn his murder conviction by arguing that racial bias influenced the proceedings against him under California's Racial Justice Act.
Nima Momeni, 42, was found guilty in December 2024 of stabbing Lee, 43, to death in April 2023. He faces a sentence of 16 years to life in prison. Momeni is scheduled to return to court for an evidentiary hearing on Friday, where his defense team intends to present evidence of alleged violations of the Racial Justice Act.
Passed in 2020, the law prohibits racial bias in charges, convictions, and sentences based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. Momeni's defense team plans to argue that prosecutors employed ethnically rooted tactics and used dehumanizing language, such as referring to Momeni, who was born in Iran, as an "animal."
According to reporting from Courthouse News, the defense intends to submit evidence that the prosecution emphasized a keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern headscarf, as part of their strategy. Daniel Shriro, Momeni's attorney, stated that the prosecution's arguments linked unfavorable traits to Momeni's ethnicity and racial group.
Moment of the crime
Assistant District Attorney Natalie Fuchs countered that the alleged racial bias evidence lacked specificity and that descriptors like "animal" and "psycho" were derived from text messages or testimony from Momeni's sister. Fuchs argued that this evidence did not meet the threshold required by the Racial Justice Act.
The fatal encounter occurred after Momeni confronted Lee about his sister, Khazar Momeni. Khazar Momeni had accused a friend of Bob Lee's, Jeremy Boivin, of drugging her with GHB and sexually assaulting her. She testified that Lee had brought Boivin to her home the day before the stabbing.
Momeni and Lee reportedly left Khazar Momeni's apartment in Momeni's vehicle around 2 a.m. on April 4, 2023. Surveillance footage captured them leaving the scene. Momeni then drove Lee to a secluded area several blocks away, where he stabbed Lee multiple times with a kitchen knife. Lee was found staggering on a street, bleeding, and later died at a hospital.
Defense attorneys for Momeni have previously argued that Lee was agitated and violent due to a multi-day drug binge and that Lee attacked Momeni with a knife first. They claimed Momeni, who has martial arts training, acted in self-defense and did not realize he had stabbed Lee.
Momeni is currently held in San Francisco County Jail and has not yet been sentenced.