New York - A man charged with killing and dismembering his mother and dumping her body parts in the trash appeared in court Thursday dressed in a garbage bag and said he'd done nothing wrong - even though detectives say they found a cellphone photo of him holding her severed head.
Bahsid McLean, 23, was charged with murder, hindering prosecution and criminal possession of a weapon. According to a criminal complaint, he stabbed Tanya Byrd and then cut up her body with help from an accomplice, William Harris, 26.
Byrd, a 45-year-old home health aide, was last seen alive Monday. Her remains were found a day later stuffed in four plastic garbage bags and scattered along four blocks, police said.
Detectives said they recovered an image on McLean's phone of him holding his mother's severed head.
"I didn't do anything wrong," McLean said during court.
McLean's attorney for the arraignment, Jerry Iannece, said his client wore the bizarre covering because he had been urinating on himself. The shorts he had been wearing were soaked through, so court personnel gave him the trash bag to wear, Iannece said.
Iannece said his client was off his medication but didn't say what type. McLean was held without bail, was placed on suicide watch in protective custody and was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation.
"Everybody's innocent until proven guilty," Iannece said. "Obviously this is a troubling case, but we will investigate and defend it thoroughly."