Testimony continues in the Fulton County murder trial of a metro Atlanta attorney accused of intentionally running over and killing a real estate investor during a road rage dispute involving a golf ball.
Fulton County prosecutors said Bryan Keith Schmitt intentionally rammed Hamid Jahangard with his Mercedes-Benz in 2019, outside a Sandy Springs home owned by the victim.
Jahangard, a 60-year-old father of two, suffered a skull fracture and a mangled leg after getting caught underneath Schmitt’s 4,000-pound luxury sedan, lead prosecutor Pat Dutcher told the jury in his opening statements. He died in the hospital three days later.
The state rested its case on Tuesday evening after jurors heard testimony from the lead detective.
“The victim had sustained what we refer to as ‘raccooning’ of the eye, above and around the right orbital socket, which is indicative of a massive skull fracture,” said Sandy Springs Detective J.T. Williams.
Jurors also saw surveillance video from the July 30, 2019 incident that was obtained by police from a neighbor’s security camera located just across the street from the crime scene, on River Valley Road in Sandy Springs.
In the video, Jahangard is seen outside on his driveway talking on his phone with a golf ball in his hand.
“He bounces it twice prior to the defendant driving by as he’s on the phone,” Williams said. “And the defendant, that’s Mr. Schmitt’s car, you see him hit the brakes, so you see his hand come down right before he enters the screen.”
It’s unclear if the ball hit the defendant’s Mercedes, but he eventually turned around and stopped in the middle of the road.
That’s where prosecutors say he had a heated exchange with Jahangard right before he rammed into him.
Schmitt’s attorneys dispute that and say what happened was a tragic mistake.
They say their client not only hit the brakes, but had no intent of killing or injuring the victim, and was trying to pull into the driveway to get out of the way of traffic.