Atlanta lawyer’s bond eased ahead of murder retrial

An Atlanta-area lawyer awaiting retrial in the killing of a real estate developer has had his bond conditions eased over pleas from the victim’s family to keep him confined to Cobb County.

Bryan Schmitt, whose law license is suspended, is charged with murder and other crimes in the 2019 death of 60-year-old Hamid Jahangard. Prosecutors accused Schmitt of deliberately ramming Jahangard with his Mercedes during a road rage incident.

Schmitt maintains Jahangard’s death was a “tragic accident.” He was found guilty at trial in 2022 but then had his convictions overturned in 2024.

Since then, he’s been on a $500,000 surety bond with an ankle monitor and other restrictions, including confinement to Cobb County.

Last week, Schmitt sought to remove the geographic restrictions and a curfew as conditions of his bond. He agreed not to drive and to keep the ankle monitor on.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge granted Schmitt’s request on Thursday, noting that county prosecutors did not oppose it.

Schmitt’s retrial is scheduled to begin in September.

At a hearing last Friday, Jahangard’s daughter, Sahar Jahangard, urged the judge to deny Schmitt’s bid to ease his bond. She also asked the judge to move up the trial date.

Sahar Jahangard said the only comfort the family has in regard to Schmitt is knowing they won’t bump into him outside Cobb County.

“It’s unspeakable the amount of impact it gives me and my family,” she said. “The peace from this family has been taken. So much has been taken from this family.”

Schmitt’s lawyer, Don Samuel, said Schmitt is self-employed as a business consultant. He said the work requires travel outside Cobb County.

Samuel said Schmitt also wants to be able to visit his elderly parents, who live outside Georgia.

Schmitt has never violated his bond conditions and is not a flight risk, Samuel told the judge.

“Even the day of the incident, he remained on the scene,” Samuel said. “He didn’t flee. He didn’t drive off. He spent hours at the scene.”

In overturning Schmitt’s convictions, the Georgia Supreme Court said the trial judge should have given instructions to the jury about Schmitt’s defense that Jahangard’s death was an accident.

At trial in 2022, Schmitt testified that he never meant to hit Jahangard with his Mercedes as he pulled into a driveway to confront the 60-year-old about a golf ball hitting the vehicle. Schmitt said he was driving home from work on July 30, 2019, when he heard something hit the front of his car on River Valley Road in Sandy Springs.

Investigators said they believed Jahangard lost control of a golf ball he was bouncing as he talked on the phone in the driveway, causing it to bounce into the street and hit Schmitt’s sedan as he drove past.