Dayton Webber, 27, a quadruple amputee and professional cornhole player, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of a man in Maryland.
A grand jury indicted Webber on multiple charges Monday, including two counts of gun possession and two counts of reckless endangerment, after he was accused last month of fatally shooting his friend Bradrick Michael Wells, 27, of Waldorf, Md., during a heated argument, police said in a statement shortly after the alleged incident.
Webber was initially arrested and charged as a fugitive from justice by deputies in Albemarle County, Va., and later extradited to a detention centre in Maryland after waiving his right to a hearing.
His case will be assigned to the Charles County Circuit Court, where his trial date is yet to be set.
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He is being held at the Charles County Detention Center after being denied bail earlier this month, The Washington Post reported.
At a hearing on April 1, lawyers for Webber argued that he shot Wells in self-defence during an incident, the U.S. outlet reported.
“It’s a situation where the occupants of that car, to include Mr. Webber, are terrified of Mr. Wells,” Hammad Matin said, explaining that Wells had been talking about guns inside the car.
“He was about to be killed and he had to kill,” Matin added.
In a follow-up statement, Webber’s lawyers said he was “terrified of being murdered.”
Deputy State Attorney in Charles County, Karen Piper Mitchell, told the media after the hearing that there is no question of Webber’s guilt.
“One thing that the defence and the state agreed at the bond hearing … is that this is not a question of who.”
“Both parties agree that Dayton Webber shot Bradrick Wells. As to the why, that’s where we’re in dispute,” she said.
Police say Webber fatally shot Wells on March 22 during a heated argument while riding in a Tesla SUV, alongside two other passengers, with Webber allegedly in the driver’s seat. The two passengers, who investigators say were in the back seats, fled the scene and alerted police after accusing Webber of asking them to help move the body.
Webber fled with the victim still in the car, the sheriff’s office said. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte Hall, about a 10-mile (16-kilometre) drive away, reported a body in a yard. Officers found the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
Years before the alleged incident, Webber was featured by ESPN in 2010, which noted that he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. In 2023, he wrote an essay for Today about how he became a professional competitor.
Webber signed a professional cornhole contract in 2021 and was later drafted by the American Cornhole League as the first quadruple-amputee player.
The cornhole champion was 10 months old when he contracted a severe bacterial infection that necessitated a quadruple amputation of his legs and lower arms.
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