A professional cornhole player who is a quadruple amputee acted in self-defense when he fatally shot a passenger in his car during a heated argument, his attorney said Wednesday.
Dayton James Webber, 27, appeared by videoconference in Charles County District Court for a bail hearing, where Judge Patrick Devine noted that he left Maryland after the March 22 shooting of 27-year-old Bradrick Michael Wells and ordered that he be held without bail.
Webber, who was extradited from Virginia, faces charges including first- and second-degree murder, as well as assault and firearm offenses. He has not yet entered a plea and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on May 6.
His defense attorney, Andrew Jezic, told the court that Webber acted in self-defense and expects “a lengthy trial” to argue the case.
After the hearing, Jezic told reporters that his client was “terrified.”
“The truth here is that he would have been a murder victim if he had not acted immediately in defense of his life,” Jezic said.
Family members of Webber declined to comment after the hearing.
Webber, whose arms and legs were amputated when he was 10 months old to save his life after he contracted a serious blood infection, is accused of shooting Wells, of Waldorf, twice in the head during an argument, according to police charging documents.
Karen Piper Mitchell, a deputy state’s attorney, said witnesses in the car told authorities the argument was over a gun that a friend of Wells had stolen from Webber, and that Webber was upset Wells was still friends with the thief.
In arguing that Webber should remain in custody, Mitchell noted that he drove to Virginia after the shooting and owns firearms.
According to the charging documents, Webber pulled over after the shooting in La Plata, Maryland, and asked two backseat passengers to help pull the victim out, but they refused, got out of the car and flagged down police officers.
Webber fled with the victim still in the car, the Charles County sheriff’s office said. Two hours later, a resident in Charlotte Hall, about 10 miles (16-kilometer) away, found Wells’ body in a yard along a road and notified officers.
Detectives tracked down Webber’s car in Charlottesville, Virginia, and found Webber at a hospital where he was “seeking treatment for a medical issue,” the sheriff’s office said.
Webber was featured by ESPN in 2023 in a story of inspiration, noting he rode dirt bikes, wrestled and played football before becoming a professional cornhole player. The same year, he wrote an essay for the “Today” show about how he became a professional competitor. He said he learned to grab the bean bag by the corners and throw it using his amputated arms.
