San Francisco – Several San Francisco police officers testified Wednesday in Nima Momeni’s murder trial, including one who collected surveillance video showing Momeni and the man he is accused of killing, Cash app founder Bob Lee, together shortly before the murder.

But these videos are far from a smoking gun, according to the defense.

Officer Milad Rashidian told the jury he was responsible for scouring the neighborhood for surveillance video showing Momeni and Lee in April 2023.

Prosecutors say Momeni stabbed Lee under the Bay Bridge, apparently believing Momeni’s sister had received too many drugs and been touched inappropriately by Lee’s alleged dealer.

But the defense says it was a drugged Lee who was aggressive and pulled a knife, and that it was Momeni who took the knife and stabbed Lee in self-defense.

In court, Officer Rashidian testified that he collected more than a dozen videos from the area, including ones that show Lee and Momeni going down an elevator together at the Millennium Tower, where Momeni’s sister lives.

The officer said he also found video showing Lee getting into Momeni’s BMW outside the building before Momeni drove off. The officer testified that Lee appeared to be acting normal and that Momeni appeared to obey all traffic laws.

Under cross-examination by the defense, the officer admitted that he would not be able to determine either the man’s state of mind or his level of intoxication from the videos.

KTVU legal analyst Michael Cardoza says the jury will have to carefully weigh the video evidence collected by the officer.

“Both sides will try to get the jury to interpret them in their favor,” Cardoza said. “The defense is attacking him, saying, ‘Look, you can’t tell if they’re drunk, you can’t hear them talking, if they’re slurring their words, if their eyes are red or watery or any other signs. of being under the influence.’ But what this video does, it clearly puts them together.”

The jury also heard Wednesday from Sgt. Thomas Moran, who testified that he found a knife marked “Joseph Koseph” in the kitchen of the defendant’s sister, Khazar Momeni. Prosecutors say Nima Momeni used another “Joseph Joseph” knife to kill Lee and then threw him over a fence.

As has been the case since the first day of the trial, Lee’s family and the defendant’s mother were in the courtroom Wednesday. The trial resumes on Thursday.

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. Email Henry at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan