TACOMA - A judge in Tacoma on Friday signed a death warrant for serial killer Robert Lee Yates, setting an execution date of Sept. 19.

But it's still likely to be years before the execution is carried out.

His defense lawyers say they expected to ask the state Supreme Court later Friday or Saturday for a stay of execution so they can again appeal his sentence for killing two women in Pierce County.

The capital punishment comes despite the fact that Yates escaped the death penalty in Spokane County for the murders of 13 other women in Spokane, Walla Walla and Skagit counties. Yates made a plea deal in Spokane County - but no such deal in Pierce County.

Last fall the state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence in an 8-1 ruling, but all observers agree it's likely they'll grant a stay if asked.

"It's my prediction that the state Supreme Court would stay the execution," said Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Jerry Costello.

The legal reason for that is because Yates is likely to file a 'personal restraint petition' asking the court to review additional matters that were not reviewed during the direct appeal, Costello said.

"And I'd imagine the Supreme Court will grant that stay," he added.

Members of some victims' families were in the courtroom Friday to watch as the judge signed Yates' death warrant, including the families of Sunny Gale, Laurie Wason, Melinda Mercer and Shawn Johnson.

The families know the appeals are lengthy, and at least one of them doesn't necessarily think that's a bad thing.

Sunny Gale's mother, Ondraya Smith, said, "I don't think that the death penalty is going to help me at all. I like him sitting there. ... I wish him a long life. I'd really like him to suffer."

But other victims' families were more anxious to see the death sentence carried out.

Clara Lawson, Laurie Wason's mother, said: "It'll put an end to this nightmare. It's been a living nightmare. It's been 11 years the end of this year that she's been gone and I still miss her. I think about her every day. He (Yates) doesn't deserve to live."

Karyl Bushell, Melinda Mercer's mother, said: "She was my strawberry-blonde girl. And we all love her and we'll never forget her. She's in our hearts every day."

The signing of the death sentence only lasted a few minutes and then it was back to the Walla Walla State Penitentiary for Yates.

Yates, a blue-collar smelter worker and former Air National Guard helicopter pilot, also faces a 408-year sentence for murdering the 13 other women - all prostitutes he killed in the same manner as the Tacoma women.

Prosecutors said Yates' pattern was to lure prostitutes into his vehicle, pay them for sex and then shoot them in the back of the head, put plastic bags over their heads, rob them and dump their bodies.

Under an agreement, he pleaded guilty to killing 10 women in Spokane County, two in Walla Walla County and one in Skagit County, and was sentenced to 408 years in prison.

Originally, Yates and the Spokane prosecutors thought the two Pierce County slayings would be included in the plea deal. But John Ladenburg, then the Pierce County prosecutor, decided to prosecute him separately for the two Tacoma-area deaths. The jury convicted him and Yates was sentenced to death.