Over three years after the stabbing death of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee in downtown SF, and two years after his killer was convicted, that culprit, Nima Momeni, has finally been sentenced.
Nima Momeni, who is now 42 years old, was back in court Tuesday after his attorneys have filed multiple post-conviction motions over the past two years, including one claiming an unfair trial under the Racial Justice Act which was rejected earlier this year.
As the Chronicle reports, Momeni's lawyer's latest effort, a motion to get a new trial, was rejected today by SF Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon, and he was given a sentence of 16 years to life in prison.
Today's hearing included victim impact statements from Lee's family, as the Chronicle notes, including one from Lee's now 18-year-old daughter Scout.
"You did not just end his life, you ended an entire future built around a man," Scout Lee reportedly said in court.
Momeni, who has maintained his innocence despite the preponderance of evidence of his guilt, continues to claim self-defense in the case, and reportedly told Lee's family that while he recognizes their loss, "Unfortunately, we have completely different understandings of what transpired."
A jury found Momeni guilty of second-degree murder in December 2024 for the April 2023 stabbing of Lee. Prosecutors were not able to convince the jury that the stabbing was entirely premeditated and intentional, despite the fact that Momeni took a kitchen knife from his sister's condo moments before the stabbing occurred, and only his DNA was found on the knife's handle. There remained doubt that Momeni, who had reason to be angry at Lee, actually intended to kill him, as opposed to wounding and scaring him.
Prosecutors laid out a theory of the case in which Lee, who was in town from Miami for a long weekend, had spent part of the day hanging out with Momeni's sister, Khazar Momeni, with whom he had had a previous casual relationship. The two had done drugs together, and Lee had left Khazar and a friend of hers at the apartment of his drug dealer.
Khazar Momeni later woke up from a drug-induced daze — after, apparently, willingly consuming multiple drugs including GHB — wearing little clothing, and called her brother to come get her. Nima Momeni, who was known to be highly protective of his sister, then wanted to confront Lee in a face-to-face meeting that took place late at night at Khazar's SoMa condo.
After this meeting, Lee left in Momeni's BMW, presumably after being offered a ride back to his hotel, but the two men got out of the car several blocks away, and Lee was stabbed under the Bay Bridge. Momeni drove off back home to Emeryville, and Lee stumbled to a nearby building seeking help, where he collapsed. One knife wound had reportedly punctured his heart.
At trial, Momeni's defense argued that it was Lee who had the knife, and that Momeni had only turned it back on him — something the prosecution told the jury was "workshopped" and "fabricated."
Momeni and his lawyer have vowed to continue appealing his case.
Previously: Nima Momeni Back In Court Arguing For Appeal of His 2024 Conviction In Bob Lee Murder
