ATTORNEY FOR SHOOTING SUSPECT NOT SATISFIED WITH INVESTIGATION

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- When accused cop killer Steven Dons was found dead
in his jail medical cell last week, it only took a couple of hours for
deputies to say that the paralyzed suspect strangled himself.

But Dons' attorneys have questioned that conclusion, especially since the
250-pound man was bedridden, couldn't move from the chest down and gave no
indication to them that he wanted to kill himself.

They are calling for an independent investigation, instead of the one
currently being led by the same sheriff's office that is in charge of the
jail.

"We're not saying that there had been foul play. We're saying an
investigation is needed to rule that out," Dons' attorney Gwen Butkovsky
said Tuesday. "Our problem is that the sheriff's office is still involved
in it, so it's not completely independent."

Dons, 37, was being held on aggravated murder charges in the Jan. 27
shootout that followed a "knock and talk" marijuana raid at his home.
Killed was Officer Colleen Waibel, the city's first female officer slain in
the line of duty. He was also accused of wounding two other officers in the
exchange of gunfire and was shot and paralyzed himself.

Dons' body was found in the hospital bed in his cell on Feb. 25. The state
Medical Examiner's office ruled that he died of asphyxiation after tying a
bed sheet around his neck, connecting the sheet to a bed rail, and pressing
a button to raise the back of his adjustable bed.

Investigators said they did not check Dons' cell for fingerprints. No fiber
evidence was collected and, only hours after Dons' body was removed from
the room, reporters and camera crews were given a tour of the cell.

Sheriff's spokesman Brian Martinek said Dons' spoke of suicide before his
death, but didn't seem suicidal. The sheriff's spokesman said Dons' was
like many inmates who talk about ending their lives, but aren't really
serious about it.

Multnomah County District Attorney Michael Schrunk said he sees no reason
to remove the sheriff's office from the investigation.

"Their investigation started the moment he was discovered," he said. "It
seems kind of absurd to stop it and have someone else do it."

Schrunk said a number of outside agencies -- including the FBI -- are also
looking into the death and this gives the probe a measure of independence.

He sent a letter to Butkvosky saying that "to provide an independent review
of the circumstances surrounding the death" a special team of investigators
from several police agencies would join the sheriff's office in probing the
case.

Schrunk said there are times when a crime investigation should exclude a
particular police agency because of conflict-of-interest concerns.

"You want to avoid any actual impropriety," he said. "Then you want to
instill public confidence and make sure there's no perception of
impropriety. That's one of the things happening in this."