Ex-Turnstile guitarist ruled incompetent to stand trial on attempted murder charge

A Montgomery County court in the Baltimore area ruled Tuesday (Sept. 22) that former Turnstile guitarist Brady Ebert is not mentally competent to stand trial. The 34-year-old musician faces an attempted murder charge stemming from a March 2026 incident in which he allegedly struck 79-year-old William Yates, father of Turnstile vocalist Brendan Yates, with his vehicle.

As reported by The Baltimore Banner, Judge Karla Smith found that Ebert posed a danger to himself and others and ordered him held by the Maryland Department of Health. A competency reevaluation is scheduled for Jan. 19 of next year. Ebert was escorted out of the courtroom after repeatedly yelling, and he questioned the presence of his attorney, Mark Sobel, calling his case "an extreme miscarriage of justice."

The ruling follows a Sept. 3 hearing, when the court ordered a competency evaluation after Sobel raised concerns about his client's condition. At that hearing, Ebert denied wrongdoing and insisted he felt fit to proceed. In May, a grand jury upgraded the charges to include attempted first-degree murder, which carries a potential life sentence.

According to the initial report, family members told detectives that Ebert arrived at the elder Yates' home yelling obscenities and honking his horn, then returned and struck him in the driveway. Yates was reportedly left with severe trauma to both legs.

Ebert had been part of Turnstile since the band formed in 2010 and played on its first three studio albums. The group parted ways with him in 2022, later pointing to a pattern of harmful behavior and saying threats against the band had escalated in the period leading up to the incident.