Paula Canny: Lawyer of alleged killer Nima Momeni rips Cash App founder Bob Lee’s ‘illegal’ drug use
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: Lawyer for alleged killer Nima Momeni blasted Cash App founder Bob Lee on Tuesday, May 2 for having "pretty much every recreational illegal drug" in his system moments after a toxicology report indicated traces of cocaine and ketamine in the tech boss's system. "It was like drugs 101," Paula Canny stated during Momeni’s court appearance in San Francisco. "There was a lot of drugs in his system, and all illegal."
Momeni, 38, entered the courtroom with confidence and grinned when he saw his mother, one of his only relatives, in the gallery. An explosion of new information, including the specifics of the substances Lee had in his system, caused the suspected murderer's arraignment to be postponed for a third time.
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Who is Paula Canny?
Paula Canny is a lawyer who represents Cash App founder Bob Lee's alleged murderer Nima Momeni. Canny is one of California's leading criminal defense lawyers, she handles cases through her criminal defense firm The Law Offices of Paula Canny. She graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1980 and was admitted to the California Bar. The legal team has decades of combined expertise handling cases in county, state, and federal courts, including high-profile, high-stakes criminal trials, as per HG.
What did Canny say about the drugs?
Momeni's attorney, Paula Canny, told reporters outside the courtroom at San Francisco's Hall of Justice on Monday afternoon that Lee's autopsy and toxicology report, which was published that afternoon, will have a significant impact on the defense strategy, as per CBS. "All information affects strategy and it confirms what I said. Didn't I say last week, I thought that there were going to be a lot of drugs?" said Canny. "There's a lot of drugs in Bob Lee's system. I mean, Bob Lee's system was like the Walgreens of recreational drugs."
'My client is not guilty'
Canny told the Washington Post that the media acquired Lee's death investigation report before she and the prosecution could study it. Momeni was expected to submit a not-guilty plea in connection with the April 4 stabbing. He is now scheduled to do so on May 18, after his counsel informed the court that fresh information, specifically the autopsy and toxicology tests, would impact how she argued for her client. "I’m going to say not guilty because my client is not guilty," she stated. "But the moment I say those words, I have to decide whether or not I want to do the preliminary hearing within 10 court days or move to 60 calendar days. If I give those rights up, there’s no taking that rights back under California law."
'That does not give someone a license to kill them'
Canny stated that drugs could cause people to act "kind of losery and make bad decisions and do bad things." After the hearing, district attorney Brooke Jenkins stated to a reporter that Canny's remarks were a typical strategy used by defense lawyers to place the blame on the victims of crime. "At this point, regardless of whether somebody has or has not done drugs, that does not give someone a license to kill them," Jenkins stated.