Attorney Charged in Fatal Hit-And-Run Has Hearing Thursday

The San Ramon attorney charged with the fatal hit-and-run that left a Chinese national dead last May will have a court hearing in Pleasanton on Thursday, his attorney Bill Gagen said.

Spencer Freeman Smith is currently free on bail, as his slow-moving court case goes through the system.

On Thursday, a judge could rule on what information prosecutors can retrieve from Smith's electronic devices. Since Smith is an attorney, the court had to assign an independent person — called a "special master" — to look over Smith's electronic data, to protect Smith's clients from attorney-client privilege.

Out on bail, Smith has continued to practice employment law with his San Francisco law firm, Smith Patton. He won't attend the hearing Thursday, Gagen said.

The incident happened on May 15, 2012 at 11:30 p.m., when the victim, Bo Hu, 57, was struck by a vehicle and killed in the Dougherty Road and Fall Creek Road intersection, according to Dublin police.

Smith was arrested by Dublin police three days later, after officers searched his San Ramon home and found a black Mercedes with damage to the windshield and front end. The car was missing the same parts that were found at the scene of the crash.

"The question is did he [Smith] realize he hit a human being," Gagen told Patch in January. "He realized he hit something because there was a huge hole in the windshield. He called his insurance company the next day and left it parked in the garage."