SAN FRANCISCO—A judge has rescheduled the arraignment of Nima Momeni, the 38-year-old suspect in Bob Lee’s murder, for April 25.
According to the motion to detain Momeni without bail, which was released on April 14, Momeni drove the victim to a deserted spot and stabbed him due to a dispute about his sister.
Momeni appeared in court in the morning, but his arraignment was rescheduled. The case did not enter a plea. Momeni only said “Yes, Your Honor” when the judge asked him whether he agreed to decline his right to a speedy trial.
The postponement of the case was partly due to Momeni’s attorney, Paula Canny, being on vacation. Robert Canny, also an attorney, was in court on behalf of his sister, Paula Canny.
“He had friends and family here in support. The facts as to what occurred or did not occur will come out over time,” Robert Canny said.
Momeni’s sister, Khazar Elyassnia, and her husband, Dino, a San Francisco plastic surgeon, were among those who were present in court. They stood outside in the hallway, waiting in silence prior to the courtroom opening, the sister wearing dark sunglasses.
The judge ordered that Momeni be held in jail without bail, per San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’s request. Momeni faces 26 years to life in prison, the DA’s office stated.
Momeni was arrested in the morning on April 13 by officers from the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) as the only suspect in the fatal stabbing of high-tech entrepreneur and investor Bob Lee on April 4.
SFPD Chief Bill Scott announced Momeni’s arrest in a press conference on April 13.
He said: “We can confirm that Mr. Lee and Mr. Momeni knew each other.”
However, he declined to share any other details.
The motion to detain Momeni without bail was the first official document that revealed more about what happened in the early morning on April 4.
According to the court document, a friend had been drinking with Lee and Elyassnia the day before the attack. The friend and Lee then went to Lee’s hotel room, and a dispute occurred when Momeni confronted Lee about his younger sister allegedly doing drugs or other inappropriate behavior.
Lee went to the Millennium Tower, where Elyassnia resides, shortly after the friend and Lee parted ways around 12:30 a.m., according to video surveillance. The same video also shows Lee and Momeni leaving the building after 2:00 a.m. and driving off in Momeni’s car.
Momeni allegedly drove Lee to a spot under the Bay Bridge on Main Street, stabbed Lee with a kitchen knife three times—once in the hip and twice in the chest—and then sped away, according to court records. One stab wound penetrated Lee’s heart and killed him.
Police found a 4-inch knife with blood on it in a nearby parking lot.
“The defendant not only drove victim to a secluded area in the opposite direction of his hotel, but also brought a kitchen knife with him,” prosecutors stated in court records. “Defendant did not use some type of pocket knife, but a cooking knife from an apartment kitchen. This was a planned and deliberate attack.”
During the investigation, police were able to unlock Lee’s phone and found a FaceTime call with Elyassnia at an unspecified time.
“This is more about human nature and human behavior than it is about our city,” SFPD Chief Scott said in the press conference.
“They knew each other,” Scott said. “Just put it in any other city, I don’t believe it would have changed the circumstances, [not] one bit.”
