Sister says Nima Momeni 'calm' after she told him she was overdrugged & slapped on rear
Sister says Nima Momeni calm after she told him she overdrugged and was slapped on her rear
The sister of accused killer Nima Momeni testified Monday that her brother was "calm and collected" after she told him the alleged drug dealer for Cash App founder Bob Lee had given her and a friend "too much drugs" and had slapped her on her rear. The defendant has been charged with fatally stabbing Lee.
SAN FRANCISCO - The sister of accused killer Nima Momeni told a jury Monday her sibling was "very calm and collected" after she told him she awoke in a drug-induced stupor and had been slapped on her rear by an alleged drug dealer for slain Cash App founder Bob Lee.
The testimony by Khazar Momeni under questioning by the prosecution could help the defense prove its theory that the defendant was not the aggressor. Instead, Nima Momeni's attorneys have argued Lee was armed with a knife and came after their client, who grabbed the knife and killed Lee in self-defense.
Khazar Momeni returned to court in San Francisco for the second day in her brother's murder trial.
On the stand, she told the jury she took a number of drugs the night Lee was killed, including GHB and nitrous oxide. She said she and a friend ended up "face down" at a party and that she remembered Lee's alleged drug dealer slapping her on her behind. She called him a predator.
"I didn't know what country I was in," she said, adding, "I was scared, crying, like I've never cried before."
She said she asked her brother to pick her up and said her sibling was a protective older brother and calm after she told him what happened.
That's in contrast to testimony by a friend of Lee who said Nima Momeni sounded upset and accusatory in a phone call to Lee, demanding to know what drugs Khazar Momeni had been given.
The sister acknowledged on the stand Monday she was also under the influence of drugs for a week after Lee was killed.
KTVU legal analyst Michael Cardoza said the jury will have to carefully weigh her testimony.
"She was, in essence, treating her body like a carnival. You know, let me take all these drugs. So the jury's going to have to decide. ‘Do we believe her? Is her memory good?’ Because she apparently voluntarily ingested all of these drugs. So again, the jury's going to have to make up their mind: who's a better witness?"
The defense will cross-examine the sister on Tuesday.
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan