A 48-year-old Detroit man accused of stealing his father's corpse from an east side cemetery with the hopes of resurrecting it is being held on $75,000 bond after his arraignment this afternoon.
Vincent Bright faces up to 10 years in prison after Wayne County prosecutors charged him with disinterment of a body. He was arraigned via video link from the county jail and did not speak at the hearing.
"It's an unusual case. It's not something you see every day," said Bright's court-appointed lawyer, Gerald Karafa, who said he had not yet spoken with his client.
Karafa asked for a personal bond in the case, saying Bright's only previous offenses were minor and happened in the 1980s. Assistant prosecutor Latoya Willis argued that Bright should be locked up because the circumstances of the case "would seem to indicate that the defendant may have mental health issues that need to be addressed."
Willis asked for $50,000 bond, saying Bright could pose a threat to others and himself. Magistrate Millicent D. Sherman of 36th District Court noted the potential mental health issues and set bond at $75,000. She scheduled a preliminary examination for Jan. 24.
Karafa said afterward that a psychiatric evaluation would likely be requested for his client.
Investigators said Bright went to Gethsemane Cemetery in the 10700 block of Gratiot Monday morning and removed his father's body from a casket near a burial site. According to a Detroit police source, Bright told family members he stole his 93-year-old father's body in order to resurrect him through prayer.
Police found Clarence Bright's body on Tuesday, stuffed inside a freezer in his son's basement.
Copyright 2013 - Detroit Free Press
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
