A request by Nima Momeni’s attorneys for his release on bail was denied by a San Francisco judge Monday, which means tech executive Bob Lee’s alleged killer will remain in jail for the duration of his coming trial.
“I’m going to deny the motion,” Judge Bruce Chan said.
Prosecutor Omid Talai argued in court that the release of a defendant in a murder trial would endanger the public.
Talai said that even his family called him a “lunatic and psychotic,” according to Momeni’s cellphone records extracted from police.
The prosecution has alleged that Momeni took the tech executive to a secluded street under the Bay Bridge in the early morning hours of April 4 and stabbed him twice, leading to his death hours later in a hospital.
Momeni was upset because Lee let his sister, Khazar Momeni, do “inappropriate” things the day before, prosecutors said in previous court filings.
But Momeni’s attorneys argued in their motion for release that the facts of the case do not amount to a cold-blooded killing and that their client is not a danger to the public.
“Mr. Momeni is neither a flight risk nor a threat to the community,” his attorney Saam Zangeneh wrote in his motion for pretrial release.
Momeni’s attorney said in court that even if one believes the prosecution’s version of events, it appears that his client was “not good at committing murder.”
For one thing, Zangeneh said, Lee walked away with a cellphone in hand, which no premeditated murderer would let happen.
Momeni’s legal team offered prerequisites they would meet for his release. Those conditions include posting a $250,000 bond, wearing an electronic monitoring device, surrendering his passport, taking drug and alcohol tests, and reporting daily to the probation department.
Bob Lee’s father, brother were in the court, as were his sister, Khazar Momeni, and his mother, Mahnaz Momeni.
Momeni is next set to appear in court on Oct. 25.