Georgia Lawyer Charged with Murder Released on Bond

Bryan Keith Schmitt, a Sandy Springs attorney, has made headlines recently as a result of a fatal accident.

Schmitt was recently released on a $500,000 bond according to press outlets. He is facing charges of aggravated assault and murder. These charges come from an incident that occurred earlier in the year.

Schmitt has been accused of running over and killing Hamid Jahangard, a local real estate investor. According to Schmitt, Jahangard threw a rock or a golf ball at his vehicle. Schmitt then says he turned around confronted Jahangard but never meant to run him over. He claims that the man threw a trash can at his vehicle in order to block the attorney's car. The attorney then swerved and accidentally hit him with his car. He was charged two weeks after the incident when Jahangard's death investigation pointed at the death not being accidental.

The conditions of Schmitt's bond include turning his license, surrendering his passport, wearing an ankle monitor, and not being allowed to drive.

As a Georgia Criminal Defense Lawyer, I will outline the offense of murder in today's post as that is one of the offense that Schmitt has been accused of committing. A better understanding of the legal elements of murder is in order.

Murder in Georgia

Murder in Georgia is defined by the Georgia Code in O.C.G.A. §16-5-1 as:

A person commits the offense of murder when he unlawfully and with malice aforethought, express or implied, causes the death of another human being.

Malice is defined by law as a wicked or corrupt motive or an intention to do evil and which the result is fatal and an unlawful objective to kill without justification or mitigation. According to law, there are two different types of malice: express malice and implied malice. Express malice is defined as the deliberate intention to unlawfully take the life of another human being, which is manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. Implied malice is defined as an implication of malice where no considerable provocation appears and where all the circumstances of the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart.

In Georgia, the penalty for a murder conviction will be life in prison without parole, the death penalty, or life in prison.

Practice Note

People are accused of committing the offense of murder just as with any other crime. Sometimes law enforcement and investigators get it wrong. We hate to admit how many people have been exonerated over the past few decades as the result of better technology.

There are two sides to every story. As of right now, we know the reported facts of the story above, but we have not heard his story. We must trust the legal process as well as the appeals process to determine the facts of this case.

If you or a loved one has been arrested, please contact our offices today. No criminal case should ever go unrepresented by a competent defense attorney. Contact a Georgia Criminal Defense Attorney today.