By STEPHANIE KLEIN
MyNorthwest.com

Days before his scheduled execution, a family friend of Cal Coburn Brown's victim, Holly Washa, says she just wants the spectacle to be over.

"We're all having to talk about it a lot and it's a lot harder than we thought it was going to be," Karen Bowen told KIRO Radio's Dori Monson on Tuesday.

Brown, 52, is scheduled to die Friday for the 1991 murder of 22-year-old Holly Washa.

A King County Superior Court judge has rejected a request to stay Brown's execution saying she was not persuaded by a defense argument that Brown is severely mentally ill.

State Supreme Court denies stay for Wash. death row inmate scheduled to die Friday.

The Washington state attorney general's office says Brown is also seeking a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brown is challenging the state's new one-drug protocol for lethal injection, as well as the state Department of Corrections' authority to obtain that drug and the qualifications of the execution team.

Bowen said they're hoping the courts will see through this "last minute ditch ridiculous effort" appeals process. "It's like your stomach is in flip-flop mode constantly. We're just waiting to hear. We do not want to make this trip if it's going to get commuted again," she said.

Washington has not had an execution since 2001 when James Elledge was put to death. It would be only the fifth since 1993 and the 78th since 1904.

"I hate him for what he did to her and I'm glad he got caught because he would have done it to other women," Bowen said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Court denies stay for death row inmate
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• Attorney General Rob McKenna not sure if ultimate penalty's worth it
• Brown to be state's 78th execution