Attorney Exits Double MurderCase

RACINE, Wis. - (08/01/05) -- A defense attorney for a man accusedof murdering a woman and her daughter while fleeing a botchedcredit union hold-up last year, was granted a motion to withdraw ascounsel Friday, just a month before the trial was scheduled tobegin. Public Defender David Saldana attributed a breakdown incommunications and ethical reasons for withdrawing from the defenseof Wendell McPherson. McPherson, 27, is charged with the brutalslaying of 40-year-old Nancy Mason and her 19-year-old daughterMeghan while he hid in their home after fleeing a failed robbery atHorizon CU last October 11. McPherson and an accomplice, JamalMartin, 19, were sitting in McPherson's car in front of the creditunion when police approached the vehicle, prompting Martin to jumpout of the car and run and McPherson to drive off, police said.McPherson then crashed his car and ran into the Masons' house tohide. One of Nancy Mason's sons found the bodies in a bed boundedin duct tape when he got home from school thatafternoon.