TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A former South Florida police officer who is facing execution on Dec. 11 for killing nine people is appealing to the state Supreme Court.
    
Lawyers for Manuel Pardo Jr. on Thursday asked the justices to reverse a trial judge's refusal to stop his execution for the 1986 murders.
    
They contend the 56-year-old ex-Sweetwater officer was insane at the time of the killings and incompetent to stand trial.
    
Pardo confessed to the killings, saying the victims were drug dealers who "have no right to live."
    
The justices have set oral argument for Dec. 5, if necessary.
    
Pardo was dubbed the "Death Row Romeo" in the 1990s. He placed lonely-hearts ads in tabloids, carried on torrid correspondence with vulnerable women and then scammed them out of hundreds or thousands of dollars.

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