TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush signed a death warrant Thursday for Aileen Wuornos, a hitchhiking prostitute who killed six men along Florida highways and volunteered for execution. Her execution was set for Oct. 9.

The governor also ordered the execution of death row inmate Rigoberto Sanchez Velasco, who was condemned for the 1986 murder of a Hialeah girl. Sanchez, who has also dropped his appeals, was scheduled to be executed on Oct. 2.

With Bush seeking re-election in November, some death penalty critics accused the governor of making the death penalty a political issue.

Abe Bonowitz, director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, called the governor's signing of the two death warrants "a transparent and crass political move at a time when Mr. Bush knows that the courts will issue stays in both cases."

He referred to legal challenges to Florida's death penalty based on the roles of the judge and jury in sentencing. The issue is pending before the Florida Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments two weeks ago.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that death penalty laws in Arizona and four other states were unconstitutional because judges rather than juries determined facts needed to justify capital punishment.

The question now before the Florida Supreme Court is whether that decision also applies to Florida, where juries in capital trials recommend sentences but judges make the final decision.

But stays for Wuornos or Sanchez were unlikely, since neither has attorneys since they dropped their appeals.

Bush spokeswoman Katie Muniz said both death row inmates confessed more than 10 years ago and have volunteered for execution.

"It seems to us that there could be no conceivable reason why the courts would not allow these executions to go forward," Muniz said, refusing to take any other questions.

Wuornos, 46, was convicted of fatally shooting six middle-aged men who picked her up as a hitchhiker along the highways of northern and central Florida in 1989 and 1990. Her story has been portrayed in two movies, three books and an opera.

Wuornos dropped her appeals and volunteered for execution last year, obtaining the Florida Supreme Court's permission to fire her attorneys.

Sanchez, 43, is condemned for the murder of 11-year-old Katixa "Kathy" Ecenarro, who was raped and strangled in her home 16 years ago.

Sanchez later killed two fellow inmates and has been fighting to drop his appeals for more than seven years.

In arguing against pursing a federal appeal, Sanchez told his judge: "I hate people. I don't like them. I want to kill people. You understand?"

Sanchez was part of the boatlift from Mariel, Cuba, in 1980 and was sent to jail for a 1982 burglary and grand theft in Broward County.

Wuornos told the Supreme Court in a letter that she is one "who seriously hates human life and would kill again."

Wuornos is one of three condemned women in the state, which also has 369 men on death row.