Ex-Turnstile Guitarist Deemed Incompetent to Stand Trial

A Montgomery County court in the Baltimore area has ruled that former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert is incompetent of standing trial. Ebert is facing an attempted murder charge in relation to a March 2026 incident in which he had been accused of striking 79-year-old William Yates with his vehicle. Yates is the father of Turnstile singer Brendan Yates.

As reported by The Baltimore Banner, Judge Karla Smith ruled on Tuesday (Sept. 22) that the 34-year-old musician was mentally incompetent to stand trial, expressing that he was viewed as being a danger to himself and others.

As part of the ruling, Ebert was ordered to be held by the Maryland Department of Health.

The former Turnstile guitarist was also escorted out of the courtroom after repeatedly yelling and is set to undergo a competency reevaluation on Jan. 19 next year.

It was reported at his previous hearing that Ebert suggested that his attorney Mark Sobel was working against him and that his previous legal representatives were involved in financial misdealings.

“I don’t know why he is here,” Ebert reportedly told the judge during Tuesday’s proceedings regarding Sobel’s presence in representing him while arguing that his case is “an extreme miscarriage of justice.”

Following the ruling, Sobel told the paper, “Hopefully, he’ll get the proper treatment for his competency to be restored, so we can proceed to trial in this case.”

This most recent ruling came after a Sept. 3 hearing in which the musician was ordered to undergo a competency evaluation. The move reportedly came about when Sobel expressed “significant concerns” about Ebert’s state.

During that hearing, Ebert professed his innocence declaring, “I did not commit a crime.” He then added that he felt “perfectly competent,” but also argued that “every part of the police report is a lie.”

What Charges Is Brady Ebert Facing?

Ebert is facing charges for allegedly striking the father of Turnstile’s Brendan Yates. A previous report suggested that the elder Yates was left with “severe trauma to both of his legs” after he was allegedly struck by Ebert’s vehicle outside his home.

The initial report claimed that detectives were told by family members that Ebert arrived at the elder Yates’ home, “yelled obscenities” and honked his car horn, later coming back and striking William in the driveway with his vehicle.

Turnstile cut ties with Ebert in 2022. He had been with the band since their start in 2010 and appeared on their first three studio albums.

READ MORE: Turnstile Issue New Album With Elton John + Dying Fetus Collabs

After the incident, the band issued a statement in which they shared that the decision at the time had to do with “a consistent pattern of harmful behavior affecting himself, the band and the community.” The group also revealed that they had been subject to “baseless tirades” from Ebert in the years since the split that they chose not to publicly address and that the guitarist had “escalated” threats against the group in the time leading up to the incident.

In May, the Montgomery County grand jury upgraded the charges against Ebert to include an attempted first-degree murder charge. That charge carries a potential life sentence with it should the musician be found guilty.

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