By CATHERINE WILSON
Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who has dropped her appeals, complained Friday that state prison guards were trying to harass her "to death" and drive her to suicide.

In a 25-page handwritten court filing, she accused the prison staff of tainting her food, spitting on it and serving her potatoes cooked in dirt. Outside court, her attorney said she also complained her meals arrived with urine.

"Ms. Wuornos really just wants to have proper treatment, humane treatment until the day she's executed," said her attorney Raaj Singhal.

Circuit Judge Paul Backman set a hearing Aug. 19 for a full airing of her allegations. The state promised in court to investigate, but a Corrections Department spokesman later rejected the allegations.

Wuornos, 44, one of the nation's first known female serial killers, was convicted of fatally shooting six middle-aged men 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.

Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday that he may sign Wuornos' death warrant next. She volunteered for execution last year and obtained Florida Supreme Court permission to fire her appellate attorneys.

Wuornos' liveliest response in court came when Backman raised the question of her mental competency based on reports by previous attorneys that she suffers paranoid delusions.

"I'm sick of hearing this 'she's crazy' stuff," Wuornos said. "I'm competent, sane and I'm telling the truth."

Singhal suggested that Wuornos' competency may come into question again if the judge rejects her claims of prison abuse.

"If the allegations don't have any truth to them, she's clearly delusional," he said. "She believes what she's written."

Maxine Streeter, senior assistant attorney general, asked Backman to delay the hearing because Wuornos' 25-page filing was delivered after business hours Thursday.

The hearing was called on the basis of a two-page letter written in January to the clerk of the state Supreme Court. The note ended, "P.S. Happy New Year!"

Wuornos, who calls herself a model prisoner, complained about eight sergeants and officers assigned to the women's death row unit at the Broward Correctional Institution after she dropped her death appeals.

"Our guards at Broward who work on the wing where she is being housed have not been exhibiting this type of behavior, and the Department of Corrections will firmly deny any of these allegations," said spokesman Sterling Ivey.

Wuornos accused the prison staff of waging psychological and physical warfare against her and wants the eight officers to be transferred "until my X," her shorthand for execution. She also wants the old staff returned.

In a list of 17 complaints, the 11th complaint said, "To overhearing conversations in 'trying to get me so pushed over the brink by them I'd wind up committing suicide before the X."'

Singhal said the issue of suicide was a real concern because her father hanged himself in prison and a grandfather committed suicide.

Wuornos also reported overhearing staff conversations about "wishing to rape me before execution" and "on the way to Starke, in transport or at Starke itself."

Death row inmates are executed at Florida State Prison near Starke. Wuornos was raped by a relative.

She also complained of strip searches, being handcuffed so tightly that her wrists bruise any time she leaves her cell, door kicking and frequent window checks by guards, low water pressure, mildew on her mattress and "cat calling ... in distaste and a pure hatred towards me."

Wuornos threatened to boycott showers and food trays when the eight officers are on duty.

"In the meantime, my stomach's growling away and I'm taking showers through the cell of my sink," she wrote.

Wuornos told Singhal that conditions improved after he was appointed two weeks ago. In court, she frequently broke into a broad smile.

The state Supreme Court has set a hearing Aug. 21 to decide how a U.S. Supreme Court decision affects Florida's death penalty.

The nation's high court said last month that juries should have the final say on punishment in death penalty cases. Florida law allows juries to make recommendations that judges can reject. Wuornos' jury recommended death.