None of the women allegedly killed by the Baton Rouge serial killer had as much time to prepare for death as Derrick Todd Lee has had.

If they had, it’s likely they would have found a way to survive.

Lee was sentenced to death in 2004, and Tuesday he was back in court seeking yet another second chance.

A state district judge granted Lee’s attorneys four and a half more months to prepare another appeal.

The mother of Charlotte Murray Pace, one of Lee’s victims, was in court Tuesday and spoke with a reporter from The Baton Rouge Advocate.

“I wish my daughter and all the other murder victims had been given this much time,’’ Lynne Marino told the newspaper.

Time is something the families don’t have with their loved ones now, as life goes on.

It’s been nine years since Natchez native Gina Wilson Green was found dead in her Baton Rouge house.

And though Green’s case never went to trial, investigators said DNA evidence linked Lee to the crime. Her family has always believed Lee was the killer.

Time passes, but the family does not forget.

Members of Green’s family attended the court proceedings for Lee’s other victims, including the 2004 second-degree murder trial in connection with the death of Geralyn DeSoto. Lee was sentenced to life in jail in DeSoto’s death.

But it’s the death sentence handed to Lee in connection with Pace’s murder that continues to prompt Lee’s court appearances today.

He wants a new trial, but it’s not the first delay in the long process of the Louisiana judicial system.

In fact, Tuesday’s court appearance was the culmination of a previous four-month extension given to Lee’s attorneys in July.

His attorneys claim the case is highly complicated — once pointing to 596 bags of evidence — and needs time.

At the July hearing, prosecutor Dana Cummings pointed out that defense attorneys were the ones making things complicated, reminding the court that the DNA evidence was strong.

The request for a new trial comes two years after the Louisiana Supreme court heard Lee’s direct appeal and affirmed his conviction.

As slow as the process must seem for the families involved, time is running out for Lee.

The Advocate quoted the state judge Tuesday implying that no more four-month extensions would be awarded.

Attorneys will have to be ready to convince the judge to call a new trial, it seems.

The outcome of what may happen on April 15 is unknown at this point, but maybe soon Lee will know what it feels like to see his own death coming.

He might even have a few more panic-stricken, painful moments than Charlotte Murray Pace, Geralyn DeSoto, Gina Wilson Green, Trineisha Dené Colomb, Randi Mebruer and Carrie Lynn Yoder did.

Maybe then he’ll know what he put his victims through.

Maybe then the families who lost precious time with the women Lee likely killed will be able to close an ugly chapter of their lives, remembering only the wonderful times they did have.

Julie Cooper is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.coooper@natchezdemocrat.com.