A local in-house attorney arrested for murder in connection with what police called a “quickly escalating” fatal traffic encounter has hired veteran criminal defense lawyer Donald Samuel, who described the charges as “disgraceful.” 

After turning himself in Monday, Bryan K. Schmitt of Sandy Springs waived his first court appearance Tuesday on charges of murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, and bail was denied, according to Fulton County jail records. The allegations against Schmitt, associate corporate counsel and director of contracts at supply chain and technology company Manhattan Associates, stem from a July 30 traffic incident that resulted in the death of Hamid Jahangard, Sandy Springs police said.

Bryan K. Schmitt arrest mugshot.

A confrontation around 6 p.m. in a neighborhood in the 300 block of River Valley Road in Sandy Springs between Schmitt, who was in his Mercedes sedan, and Jahangard, who was standing outside a home in the area, “escalated to the point that Mr. Jahangard was struck by Schmitt’s vehicle,” Sandy Springs Police spokesman Sgt. Sam Worsham said. The sergeant added Jahangard was removed from life support and died at a hospital three days later.

Schmitt remained at the scene after the incident and “worked well with us, was cooperative” during that time, Worsham said. But witness statements taken during the ensuing investigation “made it appear that it was an intentional act, not just an accident,” he added.

Samuel, while conceding that he does not yet know for sure what exactly occurred, painted a different picture of the incident. Samuel, of Garland, Samuel & Loeb, is most recently well-known for his high-profile defense, along with Bruce Harvey, of prominent Atlanta lawyer Claud “Tex” McIver over the 2016 fatal shooting of his wife inside his vehicle.

According to Samuel, his client 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. Samuel said Schmitt then drove down the street the length of a house or two and made a U-turn so he could return to where Jahangard was standing and ask about the object. As 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, said Samuel. He added there is no evidence—and two video recordings fail to reveal—that 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.”

A graduate of Georgia State University College of Law and member in good standing of the State Bar since 2015, Schmitt served in the military for seven years, honorably discharged as a U.S. Army captain, before attending law school, his lawyer said. In addition, he has no criminal record of any kind and no history whatsoever of anger issues or prior driving incidents, Samuel said. 

Schmitt’s next court date is a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 27. Although Manhattan Associates officials declined to return two phone calls from the Daily Report asking for information about Schmitt’s current employment status, Samuel said executives there have been very supportive of their employee.