Homicide Trial Starts Monday for Germantown Man

The jury trial begins Monday for a Germantown man accused of beating a man to death in Gaithersburg.

Brendon Lamont Dashiell Jr., 25, of Germantown, was charged with manslaughter in the death of Justin Eugene Carter.

According to Montgomery County Police, the men got into a fistfight during a barbecue at Carter's home on July 2. Carter, 28, was punched in the head until he collapsed and was found outside the home by emergency responders, police said in an affidavit. 

He was pronounced dead at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital; an autopsy determined blunt force trauma was the cause of death, court records state.

Dashiell was arrested on a second-degree murder charge, but prosecutors have since filed a lesser charge of manslaughter. In August, a judge granted Dashiell’s request to reduce his $500,000 bail, which was set to $50,000, court records show.

Dashiell has entered a plea of not guilty.

The trial is scheduled to last four days in Montgomery County Circuit Court, with Judge Ronald B. Rubin presiding.