Lawyers for Silicon Valley entrepreneur Nima Momeni are seeking a change of venue after a photographer snapped jailhouse pictures of the 38-year-old, who is facing murder charges for allegedly stabbing Cash App founder Bob Lee, 43, after an argument in April.
The rare glimpse inside a suspect's jail cell were published in the San Francisco Standard. They show Momeni posing in his cell, fixing his hair, art on the wall and a stack of books on a desk, topped by a biography of Napoleon by Andrew Roberts.
Momeni's attorneys blasted the paper for paying for the photos – which were allegedly taken under false pretenses by a photographer who was supposed to be taking pictures of the solitary confinement area.
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The attorneys said the photos were an unprecedented breach of decorum, and believed the defense team's concerns "resonated" with Judge Rochelle Nice, who said she found the whole thing troubling.
"He was instructed not to take pictures of individuals in those cells, yet he did it anyways," Brad Cohen, one of Momeni's lawyers, said of the photographer outside the courtroom.
The photos were pulled from syndication after the hearing.
Momeni's mother watched from the back of the courtroom. His sister, Khazar Momeni, who has been present for some hearings and played a central role in the fight that ended in Lee's stabbing, did not attend. She was arrested earlier in the week on DUI and hit-and-run charges.
Momeni's lawyers filed a second motion last week over his vehicle, which was seized after his arrest and has not been returned.
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According to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins' office, Momeni led Lee out of his sister's apartment building, drove him to a parking lot and allegedly stabbed him while the Miami transplant was visiting on a business trip.
The alleged murder weapon, a knife police say was covered in both Lee’s blood and Nima Momeni’s DNA, came from Khazar Momeni's kitchen, according to police.
Court documents say investigators recovered text messages exchanged between Lee and Khazar Momeni.
In one conversation, she told the tech titan he "handled himself with class" after her brother allegedly "came wayyyyyy down hard" on him.
Momeni has pleaded not guilty. He is due back in court on Jan. 25.
