The final arguments begin in the murder trial of Cash App founder Bob Lee

After six weeks of testimony, prosecutors who accused Nima Momeni of murdering Cash App founder Bob Lee began their closing argument — urging the jury to convict Momeni of first-degree premeditated murder.

“There is only one reasonable conclusion about what happened that night,” Dane Reinstedt, a prosecutor with the state attorney general’s office, said in a monologue that lasted nearly three hours and most of the day. “All the evidence together paints a very clear picture that is actually quite simple.”

Reinstedt has compiled witness statements and other evidence to illustrate Momeni’s motive and guilt in killing Lee early on the morning of April 4, 2023. He said the stabbing was not self-defense, as Momeni had claimed, but a deliberate attempt to avenge the accused’s sexual assault on his sister by a man Lee introduced to her.

“This protective instinct of the defendant’s little sister led to all of this,” Reinstedt said.

Reinstedt presented several new pieces of evidence that the jury had not previously seen, such as camera footage of Lee’s seemingly empty jacket pocket; Momeni had previously testified that Lee carried a knife in that bag. The prosecutor also showed a text message from Momeni’s sister in which she called Momeni a “animal 24/7.”

The courtroom was busier than usual as the lengthy trial neared its conclusion, even drawing District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to listen as her team made the final motion to the jury. To secure a first-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove to jurors not only beyond a reasonable doubt that Momeni acted willfully, premeditatedly and premeditatedly to kill Lee, but also that Momeni did not act in lawful self-defense.

Earlier in the morning, Judge Alexandra Gordon briefed jurors on the law and how to weigh the evidence to determine whether Momeni is guilty of murder of varying degrees of severity, ranging from first-degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.

Motif

“The evidence here shows a deep, deep motive that is perhaps even understandable,” Reinstedt said after briefly explaining the legal definitions and replaying Lee’s 911 call in the courtroom, in which he repeatedly calls for help.

Reinstedt said Momeni wanted to hold Lee accountable for the alleged sexual assault of his sister Khazar, who was a key figure in the case.

Khazar introduced Lee and Momeni a few days earlier, and in the early morning of April 3, 2023, Lee introduced Khazar to Jeremy Boivin, the man she said attacked her.

Through that introduction, Lee was “the catalyst that set these events in motion,” Reinstedt said. “He then left her alone in Mr. Boivin’s apartment, for which the defendant (Lee) could well be held responsible.”

During this time, Khazar said, Boivin attacked her; She later called her brother and husband to pick her up. Momeni’s assumption of the primary “protective function” for his sister, even against her own husband, underlines their close relationship, according to Reinstedt.

Momeni insisted in his testimony on the witness stand that he was never angry with Lee. And he said that by “vouching” for Boivin, Lee helped allay Momeni’s initial suspicions about Boivin at the time of the stabbing.