Bob Lee murder trial: Defendant Nima Momeni testifies that he acted in self-defense

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The defendant in the Bob Lee murder trial took the stand Wednesday to tell his side of the story. Nima Momeni is accused of stabbing and killing Lee in the early morning hours of April 4, 2023.

Momeni testified that Bob Lee attacked him with a knife under the Bay Bridge for making a bad joke. Nima testified he said to Bob that if it were his last night in town, he'd be hanging out with his family not f***ing around in strip clubs. He says Bob Lee went from 0 to 100 after hearing that, pulled a knife from his pocket and attacked him. On the stand Momeni described and demonstrated redirecting the knife back at Lee. He testified at some point Lee just walked away, unresponsive to Momeni asking what had just happened. He said he had no idea Lee was fatally injured. Momeni said he picked up the knife and threw it over the Caltrans fence, but couldn't explain why in his testimony. He also expressed remorse to Bob Lee's family saying even though Bob Lee attacked him he didn't deserve that.

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In his earlier testimony, Momeni described growing up in Iran. He said along with his mother and sister, he escaped his abusive father by moving to the Bay Area. He described extensive martial arts training both in Iran and here in the United States. Defense attorneys have maintained Momeni acted in self-defense utilizing his martial arts training. Momeni also testified about the open marriage his sister Khazar had with her plastic surgeon husband Dino Elyassnia, saying it worked for them, they had rules and respected one another. He described meeting Bob Lee once over FaceTime three months prior to the murder and the excitement they had to meet in person for the first time on the night of March 31, 2023 into April 1, 2023.

Momeni testified on April 3, 2023 he received an emotional call from his sister, Khazar who was having a bad drug trip and didn't know where she was. Momeni said he called Dino Elyassnia to go with him to pick up Khazar from Jeremy Boivin's apartment, who during the trial has been described as a drug dealer during witness testimony. Elyassnia drove Khazar's car back to Millennium Tower and Nima drove his sister back to Millennium Tower in his car. There, Momeni testified that Khazar described Bo Mohazabbi, Bob Lee's friend, as having been a jerk at Jeremy Boivin's apartment and said that Boivin gave her too much GHB, often referred to as G or the date rape drug.

Momeni testified he was upset with Boivin but that when he called Bob Lee, he sounded more sober than anyone he had spoken to that night. He said they had a good conversation and he was thankful to speak to him. Momeni testified after speaking to Lee he toned it down.

At Millennium, he testified Jeremy Boivin came over to pick up some items and return Khazar's jacket. He described Khazar and Boivin as holding hands, chit chatting and flirting. Momeni said Boivin was super polite and apologetic.

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Bob Lee also came over to Khazar's Millennium apartment. They were hanging out and Momeni testified Khazar texted both Bob and Nima separately that she wanted to go to sleep. They left together and Momeni was driving on Main Street when he said Lee spilled his beer in the car. Momeni said he pulled over and gave him a gym towel under the seat to wipe it up. He testified Lee found Khazar's nitrous oxide under the seat and began doing it. Momeni testified Lee was being silly, chatty, made a bunch of weird noises and left the car, Momeni thought to throw up.

Momeni says he followed him out and made the bad joke, "If it was my last night in town, I'd go hang out with family instead of f***ing around in strip clubs." He said that's when Lee went from 0 to 100. He described Lee as circling around him and getting in his face. "He's cussing me out, he's yelling at me," he testified. Momeni said Bob reached in his jacket pocket for something and put his hand out with what looked like a blade of some kind.

"I just wanted to control the hands, I was afraid for my life, I didn't know know what he was going to do," Momeni testified.

Momeni demonstrated how he grabbed Lee's hands trying to control it while also pushing him backwards.

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He said it happened so fast and that at some point, Lee just started walking away without making any statements.

Momeni says he walked to pick up the knife now on the ground and threw it over the Caltrans fence.

He said he reached out to his sister and told her not to let Bob back into her apartment because he had just gone crazy on him and tried to attack him. He also told her not to let Jeremy Boivin back in. Momeni testified his sister wasn't in the zone to talk.

He testified that around 6 p.m. on April 4, Khazar's husband Dino found Khazar in bed with Jeremy Boivin and was furious. Momeni said he had a call with Khazar and Dino and took Dino's side. He described texts Khazar sent him in which she said she was conflicted about him, as not being about Bob's murder, but rather about him taking Dino Elyassnia's side.

Momeni further testified that he didn't find out about Bob Lee's death until the morning of the 5th and that he was in complete shock and heartbroken. "He attacked me, but he didn't deserve that," he testified.

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On cross examination, prosecutor Omid Talai hammered Nima Momeni about the idea that Bob Lee, a beloved man in the tech world, wanted to kill him over a bad joke.

"That was the only one he took to the heart," testified Momeni.

"He did take it to the heart," Talai responded.

Talai grilled Momeni about why he's on trial for murder but said he hadn't reviewed every piece of evidence. When Momeni threw the question back at him, Talai snapped, "I have and I'm not getting paid $20,000," referring to the defense's expert who had previously told jurors that's what he got paid to consult with the defense team and testify.

Talai asked Nima about the coincidences in his story, that he just happened to leave his car at his mom's house after the murder as well as the jacket that he was wearing the night of murder. Talai also asked question after question about Khazar's texts to Nima the day of Bob's murder calling psychotic, a lunatic and threatening to call police on him. Momeni answered that she's erratic and emotional. Also that that's how they bicker.

Cross-examination of Momeni continues Thursday.