By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A Birmingham attorney has been appointed to represent a Louisiana man charged with stabbing and killing his 9-month-old daughter and the baby’s mother in Alabaster’s first-ever double-homicide.

Michael Shores will join fellow attorney Gary Young in representing 35-year-old Louisiana resident Terrance Patterson, according to court documents.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves appointed Shores to represent Patterson after attorney Darryl Bender asked to be removed from the case. Bender’s request to be removed from the case came several months after Birmingham attorney Glennon Threatt, who had originally been appointed to represent Patterson, also requested to be removed from the case.

Patterson was arrested in July 2011 and charged with two counts of capital murder after police said he allegedly stabbed and killed Columbiana resident Tryphena Lacey, 24, and her daughter, 9-month-old Trinity Lacey Patterson, in Room 11 at the Shelby Motor Lodge.

Patterson was the infant’s father, police said previously.

Patterson pleaded not guilty to the two counts of capital murder during an August 2011 hearing. A trial date has not yet been set for Patterson, according to court records.

Police responded to the Shelby Motor Lodge on July 15, 2011 after they received a call from a hotel employee at about 11:45 a.m., according to police. The employee told officers a blood-covered black male exited Room 11 at the motor lodge before police were notified.

After first responders arrived on the scene, they transported Trinity Patterson by ambulance to Shelby Baptist Medical Center, where she was later declared dead.

A Lifesaver helicopter airlifted Lacey to UAB Hospital, where she later died.

After Terrance Patterson was treated for minor injuries, he was taken into custody and charged with two counts of capital murder.

Alabaster police previously said the incident likely stemmed from a domestic dispute, and was the city’s first double-homicide.