SAN FRANCISCO (CN) – A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Tuesday advanced allegations of racial bias in the case against Nima Momeni, a tech worker convicted of stabbing and killing Cash App founder Bob Lee under the Bay Bridge in San Francisco in April 2023.
Ruling from the bench, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Patrick Thompson said Momeni made a limited prima facie showing of violations of the California Racial Justice Act, allowing some of his appeal’s claims to move forward at an evidentiary hearing.
Topics the judge allowed to continue in an evidentiary hearing include the prosecution’s references to Momen as an “animal,” dehumanizing descriptions of Momen’s instability, emphasis on the keffiyeh, a traditional Middle Eastern headscarf, and any part of the prosecution’s strategy that had ethnic roots.
However, the judge dismissed several topics, including the prosecution’s statements about the defendant’s right to counsel and the defense’s confidence, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Alexandra Gordon was not impartial.
A hearing is set for August 14.
In a statement to Courthouse News after the hearing, Momen’s attorney, Daniel Shriro, said he was looking forward to the evidentiary hearing.
The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office declined to comment.
A jury found for Momen guilty of second-degree murder in San Francisco Superior Court after a two-month trial in late 2024. He faces 16 years to life in prison.
Momeni appealed his conviction under the California Racial Justice Act, arguing that the prosecution had implicit bias against him as a man of Middle Eastern descent.
The law, originally passed in 2020, prohibits “bias based on race, ethnicity or national origin in charges, convictions and sentences” and outlines what constitutes a violation by government actors or agencies.
Momeni specifically took issue with character descriptions the prosecution used during the trial that he says exploited a negative stereotype of his ethnic background, such as “animal”, “overprotective”, “psycho” and “psychotic”. He also disputed the prosecution’s reference to Lee’s death as “an honor killing.”
“The prosecution made an argument, ‘this is the type of person who does this,’ Shriro said at Tuesday’s hearing. “It’s bad because it’s a character test; it is worse because the features are related to the ethnicity and racial group of the defendant.”
Momeni further raised concerns about Gordon’s behavior during the two-month trial, including some facial expressions and eye rolling only when the defense was being presented, as well as calling out the defense lawyer, who is also of Middle Eastern origin, for using the phrase “young lady”.
“I fully expect that when Judge Gordon did this, her intention was to prevent sexism in the courtroom. That is a noble aim,” Shriro said. However, he added that the judge’s “leap to assume sexism” may have enforced the stereotype that all Middle Eastern men are misogynists.
Thompson expressed skepticism about many of the defense’s claims, focusing primarily on Shriro’s lack of specific facts to support the alleged examples of racial bias. The judge further defended Gordon’s handling of the “young lady” comment, saying judges can respond to situations in their courtrooms as they see fit.
Similarly, Assistant District Attorney Natalie Fuchs argued that the defense’s evidence of racial bias “lacked specificity as to where particular issues occurred” and that the defense created “a prosecution narrative that is belied by the record.”
Fuchs added that the use of the descriptors “animal” and “psycho” fell under an exception to the Racial Justice Act because they were taken directly from the text messages and testimony of Momen’s sister.
“The evidence, if you can even call it evidence, doesn’t rise to that threshold,” she said.
At the trial, the prosecutors argued with Momen killed Lee in a frenzy because Lee had done drugs with Momen’s sister and introduced her to a drug dealer who sexually assaulted her.
In contrast, the defense team said Momeni acted in self-defense and that Lee was on a multi-day drug binge of cocaine, alcohol and other substances that made him unstable and unpredictable in the days before the stabbing.
Lee’s family has filed one wrongful death lawsuit against Momen’s sister and mother in San Francisco Superior Court, alleging the family helped him cover up the murder.
Momeni also sued media outlets, including the LA Times, San Fransico Standard and New York Post, as well as photojournalist Paul Kuroda for press coverage of his legal case, seeking $17 million in damages. However, his appeal was struck down by a judge earlier this year.
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