Murder conviction of metro Atlanta lawyer accused of killing man overturned by Supreme Court of GA

ATLANTA — Attorneys for a lawyer convicted in a road rage murder case say they are preparing for their client to stand trial again after the Supreme Court of Georgia overturned his conviction today.

A spokesperson for the District Attorney’s office told Channel 2′s Michael Seiden that prosecutors have been in touch with the victim’s family and will be retrying the case as soon as possible.

In the meantime, defense attorneys are calling this a legal victory.

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The family of Hamid Jahangard was shocked and heartbroken after learning that the man convicted of killing him would get a second chance to prove his innocence.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Georiga overturned Bryan Schmitt’s 2022 conviction ruling that the attorney is now entitled to a new trial after the Fulton County judge presiding over the original trial failed to instruct the jury on what constitutes an accident under law.

“The judge told the jury that they could not consider our defense of accident and because the jury was unable to consider our only defense, the conviction had to be reversed,” Schmitt’s defense attorney, John Garland, said.

Schmitt, who testified in his own defense at the trial, told jurors he was driving home from work in July 2019 when he accused Jahangard of throwing a golf ball at his Mercedes-Benz.

Tempers flared after the ball allegedly struck his car and that’s when prosecutors say Schmitt made a U-turn and confronted Jahangard before hitting him with his car, killing him.

“Were you aiming, intentionally, to hit or murder him when you made that left turn?” Schmitt was asked in court. “The opposite,” Schmitt replied. “I was hoping to go to his left and turn into the driveway.”

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“The State gets to retry him. It’s just now the defense actually gets to say ‘It’s an accident. I didn’t mean to hit and kill this person,’” former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney Noah Pines said.

After his conviction, the judge sentenced Schmitt to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Now he will head back to the Fulton County Jail where he will eventually get a bond hearing.

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