TACOMA, Wash., Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Lawyers for a serial killer facing execution later this month in Washington state have asked for a stay to allow time for a new appeal.
Superior Court Judge John Pierce signed Robert Lee Yates' death warrant Friday. The judge, sitting in Tacoma, set Sept. 19 as the execution date, The Tacoma News Tribune reported.
Yates, a former Army helicopter pilot from Spokane, was convicted of killing 15 people in Washington. He received a 408-year prison term for killing 13 Spokane prostitutes killings and a death sentence for the murders of Melinda Mercer and Connie LaFontaine Ellis in Tacoma.
Lorrie Thompson, a spokeswoman for the state Administrative Office of the Courts, said that the state Supreme Court must decide on the request for a stay.
In his new appeal, Yates' lawyers argue that he received ineffective assistance of counsel and that lethal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The state Supreme Court has already rejected arguments that the death penalty is disproportionate because a serial killer responsible for more deaths received a life sentence.
