The knife found near where Silicon Valley executive Bob Lee was stabbed to death in San Francisco tested positive for suspected killer Nima Momeni’s DNA and appears to have been taken from his sister’s unique kitchen cutlery set, a prosecutor said.
(Bloomberg) — The knife found near where Silicon Valley executive Bob Lee was stabbed to death in San Francisco tested positive for suspected killer Nima Momeni’s DNA and appears to have been taken from his sister’s unique kitchen cutlery set, a prosecutor said.
Momeni, who pleaded not guilty to murder Thursday, is accused of killing Lee, 43, on a dark downtown street early in the morning of April 4. A judge denied his request for bail, finding that Momeni poses a danger to the public if released ahead of trial.
Traces of Momeni’s DNA were found on the handle of the knife and blood on the blade matched Lee’s DNA, Assistant District Attorney Omid Talai told San Francisco Superior Court Judge Victor Hwang during a hearing.
Talai said the knife “seems to be brought” from the apartment of Momeni’s sister, where Lee had been socializing hours before the stabbing and later was seen on surveillance video footage leaving in Momeni’s car. The prosecutor said a wound to Lee’s chest was five inches deep, not done by accident. “This is the very definition of premeditation,” he said.
Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Paula Canny, an attorney for Momeni, contested Talai’s description as the DA’s version of events. The blade of the knife is “under four inches” long, she said. The DNA evidence “isn’t entirely right, either,” she said. She acknowledged Lee’s blood is on the knife.
Lee, who was chief product officer at cryptocurrency startup MobileCoin and previously created Cash App, was revered in the tech world for his coding talents.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has called his slaying “planned and deliberate” and had urged the court not to grant bail and release Momeni ahead of trial.
Momeni, 38, is the owner of a small IT firm. Canny previously said that camera footage cited by prosecutors as evidence doesn’t support a premeditated murder charge.
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