Fulton County Atlanta attorney Bryan Schmitt is charged with murder in a fatal road rage incident.
Atlanta lawyer Brian Schmitt ran down and killed Iranian-American real estate investor Hamid Jahangard after a golf ball hit his Mercedes-Benz, prosecutors say.
Schmitt reportedly thought Jahangard threw a golf ball at car, but prosecutors say if that occurred, it was an accident. The district attorney says Schmitt “purposely steered” his car into Jahangard, 60, who died two days later from blunt force trauma head injures.
Schmitt turned himself in to the Sandy Springs Police Department.
Held in jail since the July 30 incident, Schmitt, 48, was indicted on murder, felony murder and aggravated assault charges, as announced by Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Schmitt Said it Was an Accident But a Police Investigation Concluded the Lawyer Drove His Benz Into Jahangard ‘Intentionally’
#breaking
Sandy Springs police just sent me this mugshot of Bryan Keith Schmitt, 47. Police arrested and charged him w/ the July 30 murder of Atlanta real estate investor Hamid Jahangard, 60.
According to the indictment, just after 5:30 p.m. on July 30, Schmitt “purposely steered his 2011 Mercedes CLS550″ at Jahangard. Court records show Jahangard was struck by the vehicle and died two days later of blunt force trauma injuries to the head. According to prosecutors, Jahangard accidentally struck Schmitt’s Mercedes with a golf ball while in the driveway of a rental property owned by Jahangard in Sandy Springs, a tony suburb of Atlanta.
In a report, it was noted that after the ball struck the car, a confrontation “escalated” and Jahangard was struck by Schmitt’s vehicle. After being critically injured, Jahangard was taken off life support and died two days later. Schmitt was reported to have been “cooperative” with police afterward but following an investigation, witnesses said that while Schmitt may have suggested it was an accident, police said it was “an intentional act …”
2. Schmitt Faces the Death Penalty, or Life in Prison, if Convicted. His Lawyer Said There’s no Proof His Client Hit Jahangard & Even if He Did Hit Him, There Was ‘No Intent to Inure Him’
If convicted of the charges against him, Schmitt could face the death penalty, or life in prison. He’s being held without bond.
In a report from Law.com, lawyer for Schmitt Donald Samuel said before the indictment was handed down that “we don’t know exactly what happened,” and added then that a suggestion of murder was “disgraceful.”
Samuel was quoted as saying Schmitt was “driving his sedan down the residential street when he sensed that Jahangard, standing on the sidewalk, threw a golf ball or some other projectile at his vehicle” and so after driving a house or two down the road, “made a u-turn” and drove back toward where Jahangard was standing to “ask about the object.” Samuel claimed that Schmitt “made a left-hand turn into that driveway from a stopped position, the victim was moving from the side of the driveway into the path of the vehicle, perhaps using a garbage can to block Schmitt’s entry …” suggested there was no proof “the car actually came into contact with Jahangard.”
“We don’t know exactly what happened, but [Jahangard] falls down, hits his head on the driveway, and it’s a catastrophic injury,” Samuel said. “There was absolutely no intent on the part of Mr. Schmitt to strike the victim. There was no intent to injure him. He stayed on the scene, talking to the police for three hours and was then allowed to drive home with his car.”
He added: “You can call it reckless driving or making an improper turn but to call that malice murder is a disgraceful use of the murder statute. When there’s no evidence that the car came into contact with the victim and no evidence that the [defendant] struck the [victim] directly, I don’t know why you would call that murder—a motor vehicle accident, maybe even a criminal one, but not malice murder.”
3. Schmitt, Corporate Counsel at Tech Company Manhattan Associates, Was Praised by Colleagues For His ‘Integrity’
ScreenshotBryan K Schmitt
According to his LinkedIn profile, Schmitt is an experienced corporate counsel and a “strong legal professional skilled in International Corporate Governance, Negotiation, Business Planning, Operations Management, and Analytical Skills.”
A number of the endorsements found on his professional networking page praise his integrity and trustworthiness.
“Bryan is a gifted leader and consummate professional. I have known Bryan since 1998, and I regard him as one of best officers with whom I ever had the opportunity to serve. Bryan’s core values are evident in all of his interactions with others; he demonstrates the highest integrity, expert competence, and drive for excellence that are the hallmarks of success in any organization. A true professional in that he continuously learns and actively studies his field, Bryan can be trusted to provide the caliber of expertise necessary to manage the most complex organizations.”
“I have the pleasure of not only having worked with Bryan, but the privilege of being his friend. Both my professional and personal interactions with him have given me great pleasure and I’ve always counted myself as being better for them. He’s driven, intelligent, organized, and possesses a great sense of humor that reflects that while he takes the work he’s doing very seriously, he doesn’t take himself too seriously. It’s a trait that makes him a joy to work with and be around. I highly recommend him for a position in any organization with the confidence that his employment will make that organization better.”
Schmitt was Senior Contracts Manager at Manhattan Associates, although his profile does not appear, or was removed, from the company website. Schmitt was previously director of strategic sourcing at Crawford & Company, and a vice president at SunTrust Bank. He earned a degree in history at Ottawa University, an MBA from Regis University and his law degree at Georgia State University College of Law.
4. The Criminal Court Complaint Has Witnesses Saying Schmitt Lied to Police & Rammed His Car Into Jahangard, Per a Report
In a local media report on the 46-page criminal complaint, Schmitt said he was “driving home” when a “man (that) was standing by (the) side of road next to trash cans … made a throwing motion with his arm, and I saw a white object strike my car.” He turned around and confronted the man, who he told police cursed at him and when Schmitt “attempted to pull into the driveway he pushed a trash can at me. I swerved to right to miss it and ended up hitting a second trash can. When I came to stop, he was lying on the other side of the first trash can.”
Investigators learned otherwise from video and witnesses.
According to a report from WSB in Atlanta, the criminal complaint includes witness statements that describe what happened: Jahangard walked down a driveway and stood near the bottom where garbage cans were located. Schmitt drove by and “as he passes the driveway, he hits his brake.” He pulls back up and “remains stationary for 25 seconds. Two cars pass him on the wrong side of the road and he quickly makes a left and starts to accelerate. You can’t see impact. Victim Hamid (Jahangard) is slammed to the ground, head bounces twice off pavement and his body is rotating.”
A neighbor who said she was a nurse, “told police that she didn’t see the crash but became very concerned when she saw the driver attempting to pull the victim’s body out from underneath his car. She told him to stop and waited for paramedics to arrive” and said, Schmitt “was lying and that he did not knock him down. He ran over him.”
5. Hamid Jahangard Was Born in Iran, Immigrated to the US & ‘From a Humble Beginning, Worked Hard to Create the Life He’d Always Dreamed Of’
Jahangard’s obituary reads that he was born in Kermanshah, Iran in 1959 and in the 1970s, came to the U.S. to “create the life he always dreamed of.”
Described as a self-made man, he “came to the United States with little money in his pocket but the promise of the American Dream in his heart. Through hard work, he was able to bring the rest of his family to America all the while pursuing his undergraduate and graduate degrees.”
“Hamid always said, ‘People can come and take everything away from you, but the one thing they can never take from you is your education.'”
He graduated from Walton High School in Cobb County and Jahangard’s LinkedIn shows that he earned a masters’ degree in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
State records show he had at least three investment companies registered in Georgia.
His obituary reads that his “greatest mission in life was his two daughters, Sahar and Sepeideh,” who lost their mother last year, the obit reads.
Just a month before his killing, Jahangard posted a photograph of he and his daughters on Facebook.
“When his daughters called, he dropped everything to be their superhero. Following the death of their mother last year, Hamid constantly asked, ‘Am I enough?’ The answer without question was, ‘Yes. Yes, you are enough; yes, you are the best father.’ There will never be anyone who loved and protected their children with the same dedication.”