A San Francisco jury convicted IT consultant Nima Momeni in the 2023 fatal stabbing of tech executive Bob Lee, a killing that led to concern about street crime in the city but which actually occurred after a personal dispute, NBC reports. The jury acquitted Momeni of first-degree murder but found him guilty of second-degree murder. Deliberations had begun on Dec. 4. The jury had been asked to consider first-degree murder with an enhancement of using a deadly weapon. Momeni appeared unemotional as the verdict was read. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said. Lee, 43, the founder of the popular money transfer service Cash App, was found stabbed on April 4, 2023, near downtown San Francisco. He was rushed to a hospital but died of his injuries.
Prosecutors argued that Momeni intended to kill Lee over an argument about his sister, whom Lee knew, and her drug use. Momeni said that Lee attacked him with a knife and that he defended himself and Lee was stabbed. Lee's brother, Tim Oliver Lee, told reporters that the family is grateful for the guilty verdict, even though it was a lesser charge of second-degree murder. "We know what happened here. We think he had the intent to murder; the jury felt like he did not have the intent coming into that situation," he said. "But what matters today is that we had a guilty verdict and that Nima Momeni is going away for a very long time." On the morning of the killing a dispatcher told police a man was “screaming, ‘help,’ saying ‘someone stabbed me,’” recordings showed. The case generated controversy when Elon Musk posted on social media after Lee’s death about crime in San Francisco and questioned the district attorney about “repeat violent offenders.” Instead, a week later, San Francisco police announced the arrest of Momeni, 40, who is not a repeat offender and whose sister was a friend of Lee.
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