Arguing that his lawyers were ineffective and that lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment, serial killed Robert Lee Yates Jr. on Monday asked Washington's highest court to stay his Sept. 19th execution while he appeals further.

He's also asking for a court-appointed attorney to help prepare the appeal. It is Round 2 of three possible rounds of court appeals; he's already lost the first one.

Yates was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for separately killing two women in Pierce County. Last year, the state's highest court affirmed that sentence, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider the case.

Last week, Pierce County Superior Court Judge John McCarthy signed a death warrant setting Yates' execution date for Sept. 19.

But under state law, Yates can have that execution stayed while he files what's called a “personal restraint petition.”

Paperwork filed Monday with the state Supreme Court indicates that he intends to use the petition to raise several challenges to his conviction. Among them: that his trial attorneys were ineffective and that “Washington's method of administering its lethal injection procedure constitutes cruel and unusual punishment” that's contrary to the U.S. Constitution.

Developing...

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