A federal public defender filed a petition Wednesday in Pittsburgh seeking to stay the scheduled Oct. 21 execution of Michelle Sue Tharp, the Washington County woman convicted in the 1998 starvation death of her 7 1/2-year-old daughter.

The Defender Association of Philadelphia filed the action in U.S. District Court on behalf of Tharp, 35. Gov. Ed Rendell signed the execution warrant on Monday.

Attorney James J. McHugh, a federal public defender, asked the court to permit Tharp within 180 days of the stay to file a motion to begin her federal appeal aimed at overturning her conviction and death sentence.

Tharp was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Tausha Lee Lanham, who weighed less than 12 pounds when she died in April 1998.

Tharp's boyfriend, Douglas Bittinger, is serving a 15- to 30-year sentence in connection with the death.

After the child died in the family's home in Burgettstown, Tharp and Bittinger dumped the body in West Virginia and told authorities the girl had disappeared while the family was shopping in Steubenville, Ohio.

Tharp's conviction and death sentence were affirmed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on July 2, 2003, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused on May 17 to review the case.

McHugh said the appeal to the state Supreme Court is automatic in death penalty cases, and the association tried for a U.S. Supreme Court review before starting the federal appeal process.

Robert Baird can be reached at (412) 391-8650.