Former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert must be cleared as competent before beginning trial for a first-degree attempted murder charge for intentionally driving his car into singer Brendan Yates’ father, William Yates, a judge has ordered.
Ebert argued against the competency evaluation requirement, which was first brought up by his own attorney, Mark Sobel, according to the Baltimore Banner. While Ebert maintains that he is “perfectly competent” and “every part of the police report is a lie,” Sobel told Circuit Judge Eric Johnson he has “significant concerns regarding competency.” In court, Ebert told Johnson he plans on firing Sobel over concerns he might be working alongside prosecutors.
If convicted on the first-degree attempted murder charge, Ebert faces life in prison, though he has maintained his innocence. The guitarist previously told a district court commissioner, “This is pure self-defense.” He doubled down in court, saying, “I did not commit a crime.” His status hearing is scheduled for Sep. 22.
Ebert has been held at the Montgomery County Correctional Facility in Boyds, Maryland without bail since April. The 33-year-old allegedly drove his car into William Yates outside his home, causing trauma to his lower body.
Turnstile parted ways with Ebert in 2022 in response to “a consistent pattern of harmful behavior affecting himself, the band, and the community,” Turnstile previously said in a statement. “After exhausting every available resource to support his access to help and recovery, a boundary ultimately had to be set when healthy communication was no longer possible and he began threatening violence.”
The band continued, “In the years since, his baseless tirades have continued in public. We never addressed it. We chose to protect his privacy and the circumstances around his departure, even when he did nothing to be deserving of that protection. Over the past few months, his threats only escalated further.… We have no language left for Brady.”
