A 37-year-old Houston man convicted of killing a police officer 14 years ago has been put to death.

Jeffrey Demond Williams' execution Wednesday evening came just over an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a last-day appeal from his attorneys. Lawyers contended Williams had been failed by previous attorneys at his trial and in early stages of his appeals.

He's the sixth Texas inmate executed this year.

Williams was convicted of fatally shooting 39-year-old Houston officer Troy Blando while Blando was handcuffing him.

Blando was watching a motel where car thefts were suspected when he saw Williams drive up in a Lexus that was reported stolen.

Williams was captured about a block away. Blando's cuffs were hanging from one of his wrists.

Steam and ash clouds are occasionally rising to 20,000 feet from an active Alaska volcano.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory says in a release that an ash plume was reported rising from Pavlof Volcano on Tuesday evening at about 15,000 feet. It extended to the northeast about 100 miles before it dissipated.

The observatory says a pilot reported an ash plume about 20,000 feet on Wednesday, extending east-northeast from the volcano, located about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage in the Aleutian Islands.

The nearest community is Cold Bay, and residents reported seeing a glow from the summit Tuesday night. The observatory says photographs show a lava flow is still active down the volcano's northwest flank.

A Florida teenager who was accused of igniting a chemical explosion on school grounds — and who became the subject of a social media campaign on her behalf — will not face criminal charges.

Kiera Wilmot was arrested April 22 and faced two possible felony charges after school administrators reported she combined toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a bottle, and the resulting gas blew the cap off the plastic bottle.

The Polk County state attorney said Wednesday that the case has been dismissed, but the 16-year-old must complete a diversion program.

Details about the program aren't public record because Kiera is a juvenile.

The teen's arrest launched an international outcry on social media by people who thought the arrest was unfair. Nearly 200,000 people signed an online petition protesting her arrest.

Call Melvyn Wilson is the king of the scratch-off ticket.

The Virginia man recently won his fourth lottery prize of at least five figures, putting his total scratch-off winnings at more than $2 million.

The Virginia Lottery said in a news release that Wilson won $500,000 in November 2004; $25,000 in March 2005; and $1 million in September 2005. Then he retired from his job as a postal worker.

Now 72, Wilson hit another $500,000 scratch-off prize on the Millionaire Mania game.

The lottery didn't say how many tickets Wilson usually buys or how often. Nobody answered the phone at his home Wednesday.

At an event to claim his fourth oversized winning check Tuesday, lottery officials asked what he did with all his winnings. His reply: "I invest in Melvyn."

A deer has taken a ride on a western Pennsylvania bus.

The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat newspaper reports the white-tailed deer crashed through the windshield of a public bus being driven Tuesday evening in Johnstown, about 65 miles east of Pittsburgh.

The deer hopped around frantically near the driver before jumping on empty seats and running in circles in the aisle.

Authorities say the driver stopped the bus and opened the door and the deer got off. Cambria County transportation spokesman Josh Yoder says it "just walked off the bus."

The bus was carrying one passenger, who was seated in the back far from the deer. No injuries have been reported.

The bus has been taken to a maintenance facility for repairs.

There's no word on what happened to the deer.

An indictment has been thrown out in the case against a New York Police Department officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man as his grandmother stood nearby.

A judge Wednesday found prosecutors gave flawed instructions to a grand jury that indicted Officer Richard Haste. The case isn't over because prosecutors are expected to present the case again.

Last year's shooting of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham in his Bronx home stemmed from an NYPD investigation of street corner drug dealing. Police pursued Graham into his home before he was shot once at close range.

As it became clear the judge was about to rule in the officer's favor, Graham's mother cursed and screamed, "They killed my child!"

The officer didn't speak to reporters. He had testified radio transmissions convinced him Graham was armed and dangerous.

Prosecutors in the Colorado theater shootings say laws on insanity and the death penalty are constitutional and don't need any of the explanations requested by the defense.

Attorneys for the state filed their response Wednesday to motions by James Holmes' lawyers saying the laws are vague. The defense also argues the laws violate Holmes' rights by possibly barring him from calling witnesses to testify about his mental health during the trial's penalty phase.

Holmes is charged with killing 12 at a movie theater in July. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

A judge entered a standard not guilty plea on Holmes' behalf. He wants to change that to not guilty by reason of insanity.

The judge must approve the change after ruling on defense objections to the laws.

DEVELOPING -- A Philadelphia abortion doctor was sentenced Wednesday to a third life term for killing an aborted baby that he described as so big it could "walk to the bus."

Dr. Kermit Gosnell was convicted this week of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies born alive, then stabbed with scissors. He was given two life sentences Tuesday in a deal with prosecutors that spared him a potential death sentence, and the third sentence was handed down Wednesday.

Gosnell was also sentenced to 2 1/2 to five years in prison for the 2009 overdose death of a patient. The sentences are consecutive, meaning Gosnell, 72, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

The case has made Gosnell a flashpoint in the nation's bitter debate over legalized abortion.

Prosecutors argued that Gosnell savagely killed late-term babies born alive by severing their spines, and taught several staff members the technique. Nine former clinic workers were convicted in the case, and four others pleaded guilty to murder.

Despite the notoriety of the case, Gosnell has seemed oddly serene in court during the two-month trial, and apparently sees himself as a medical pioneer and tireless advocate for inner-city patients.

"I wanted to be an effective, positive force in the minority community," Gosnell told The Philadelphia Daily News in a 2010 interview, when he predicted he would be "vindicated" of the allegations in a harrowing grand jury report. He chose not to address the judge during Wednesday's sentencing.

But prosecutors said he grew increasingly reckless as he accumulated millions of dollars from his rogue clinic, which was described as a "pill mill" for addicts by day and an "abortion mill" by night.

The jury spent 10 days deliberating before finding that Gosnell had killed babies or had them killed. And the jury found him complicit in the death of the 41-year-old patient, a Virginia woman who was repeatedly sedated by his untrained medical assistants.

Gosnell was also convicted of hundreds of abortion law violations for performing illegal, third-term abortions or failing to counsel women and teens. Gosnell was acquitted in the deaths of four other infants.

Prosecutors have declined to comment on the verdict, citing a gag order that was expected to be lifted Wednesday when Gosnell's sentence is finalized.

Prosecutors had planned to seek the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person and his victims were especially vulnerable given their age. But Gosnell's own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be executed before his appeals ran out.

Gosnell's lawyer, Jack McMahon, said his client accepts the verdict and isn't sorry he went to trial. He said Gosnell gave up a somewhat better deal early on but wanted to air the issues in court and is satisfied that he did so.

"He wanted this case aired out in a courtroom and it got aired out in a courtroom in a fair way. And now he's accepting what will happen. He's an intelligent guy," said McMahon, who said Gosnell would now plead to federal drug charges that are still pending.

The sentencing deal, reached after hours of terse negotiations Tuesday, spares Gosnell's family the task of pleading for his life in court, McMahon said. Gosnell has six children, the youngest of them a teenager born to his third wife, who has also pleaded guilty in the case.

"He's a proud man. To bring his young family into court was something he did not want to do," McMahon said.

A 2011 grand jury investigation into Gosnell's alleged prescription drug trafficking led to the gruesome findings about his abortion clinic. During an FBI raid, authorities found 47 aborted fetuses stored in clinic freezers, jars of tiny severed feet, bloodstained furniture and dirty medical instruments, along with cats roaming the premises.

Prosecution experts said the Delaware teen carrying Baby A, whose death Gosnell was sentenced in Wednesday, was nearly 30 weeks pregnant when Gosnell aborted her fetus. A second baby was said to be alive for about 20 minutes before a clinic worker snipped the neck. A third was born in a toilet and was moving before another clinic employee severed the spinal cord, according to testimony.

A fourth baby let out a whimper before Gosnell cut the neck, prosecutors alleged. Gosnell was acquitted in that baby's death, the only one of the four in which no one testified to seeing the baby killed.

McMahon has argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.

Georgia parks officials say they've ordered that Bibles be removed from guest rooms at state lodges and cabins across the state.

WAGA-TV reports that the order came after a resident expressed concerns.

A Georgia Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman said that after the resident expressed concerns, management directed the staff to remove the Bibles from cabins and lodge rooms until managers can fully investigate the issue and make an informed decision.

The station reports that the DNR has not set a timetable for a final decision on allowing Bibles in state park guest rooms.

The Penobscot County Sheriff's Department is looking for a missing 15-year-old girl from Glenburn.

Authorities said Tuesday that Nichole Cable was last seen by her parents at about 9 p.m. Sunday.

Deputies will not say if her disappearance is suspicious or if she is in danger, but they want to hear from anyone who has information about her whereabouts.

Cable has light brown hair and blue eyes and weighs 90 pounds. She is a student at Old Town High School.

Her mother, Kristine Willey, told WABI-TV that she was scheduled to meet someone she had met on Facebook.

The Washington Monument is now covered in scaffolding from top to bottom.

The completion of the scaffolding on Monday is a milestone in the $15 million project to repair the monument, which was damaged in a 2011 earthquake. It's been closed ever since and is not expected to reopen until next year.

The scaffolding around the 555-foot obelisk took about three months to construct.

Perini Management Services Inc. of Framingham, Mass., has the contract to repair the monument. Perini project manager Robert Collie says that formal repair of damaged stones will begin in about three weeks. No stones have to be replaced, but about 50 will need to be patched.

Repair crews are also sealing cracks with epoxy and reinforcing them with steel anchors.

A bill to allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into Texas college buildings and classrooms got a significant boost in the state Senate on Tuesday, but it remains unclear if it has enough momentum to become law.

Even if it does, the bill has been scaled back to the point that even key supporters question whether most campuses will move to keep guns out.

The issue has failed in previous sessions and appeared destined for a similar fate until just a few weeks ago.

But the House passed a version that lifts the statewide ban on guns at school while still allowing individual campuses to ban weapons. A Senate panel endorsed the same bill on Tuesday sending it to the full Senate for consideration.

The change to give schools more control over their campuses was designed to soften opposition from higher education officials, notably the University of Texas System, and law enforcement agencies that worry allowing guns will lead to more campus violence and suicide.

Supporters of the bill say the compromise measure, while not what they wanted, is one they can live with and hope the bill will break through the Senate before the session ends May 27.

"I will take what I can get," said Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. "Swing for the fences, but be happy with first base."

The House voted to approve the bill on May 6, prompting Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, to schedule Tuesday's public hearing just a couple of weeks after he declared the issue dead this session. The committee passed the bill on to the entire Senate with a 4-2 vote.

The bill's fate in the full chamber remains unknown and supporters were cautious about predicting it will pass.

Republicans hold a 19-12 majority and approved a broader version of the bill in 2011. But Senate rules still require at least 21 members to vote to bring a bill up for debate. Sen. Kirk Watson of Austin, leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus, said the bill may not have the support to pass the Senate.

"There's still significant heartburn," even with the changes, Watson said.

Texas has more than 500,000 concealed handgun license holders who must be 21 years old and pass a training course. They can carry their weapons in most public places, including the state Capitol, but state law also carves out several "no gun" zones, including campuses of higher education.

Several instances of shootings at college campuses, such as the one at Virginia Tech in 2007, prompted a wave of efforts in Texas and nationwide to allow guns. Supporters, including the Texas Rifle Association, call it a gun rights issue and say they should be allowed to defend themselves and others in case of a campus shooter. They also note Texas Department of Public Safety statistics that show concealed handgun license holders in 2011 had a drastically lower rate of committing crimes than the general population.

In March, University of Texas System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa wrote a letter to Gov. Rick Perry saying students, parents and faculty worry letting guns into classrooms will make campus less safe. Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, chief author of the bill in the Senate, said it's likely many campuses will continue to ban weapons.

The bill would require public universities to renew their gun policies every year after taking input from faculty, staff and students. Private universities would be allowed to opt in to allowing weapons on campus.

"There will be some that still won't allow them," Birdwell said. "But at least we've begun the conversation instead of getting nowhere with it."

Birdwell said if he can get the bill passed, campus-carry supporters may try to eventually eliminate the campus ban on guns altogether.

"There may be a comfort level after two or four years of this being in place, universities will say there's not a problem here," Birdwell said. "But that's for next session or the session after that."

The lawyer for a New Jersey man whose 4-year-old son shot and killed a 6-year-old playmate says his client is cooperating.

Robert Ebberup released a statement Wednesday in which he criticized the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office for arresting his client in front of his family while they ate dinner.

The lawyer says Anthony Senatore would have voluntarily turned himself in to face charges of child endangerment and enabling access by a minor to a loaded firearm.

Authorities say Senatore's son took a loaded .22-caliber rifle from a bedroom on April 8 and fatally wounded neighbor Brandon Holt while they were playing outdoors.

Officials say four shotguns were found close to ammunition and accessible to Senatore's three children in their Toms River home.

He's due in court Thursday.

WHY IS O.J. SIMPSON IN COURT?

The 65-year-old former football star and actor is serving nine to 33 years in a Nevada prison after a jury found him guilty in 2008 of leading the gunpoint robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room. Simpson wants a new trial because he says his longtime lawyer from Miami, Yale Galanter, failed to disclose that he knew about the plan in advance, told Simpson it was legal and provided bad advice at trial.

WHAT ARE THE RULES?

The proceeding, called a writ of habeas corpus, is not a trial. Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell started hearing testimony Monday on 19 separate claims of ineffective representation of counsel and conflict of interest. Simpson has to prove his lawyers botched his trial and the outcome could have been different. Bell may not make an immediate decision after the hearing expected to last until Friday.

WHAT ABOUT SIMPSON'S EARLIER APPEALS?

The Nevada Supreme Court denied Simpson's appeal in 2010. Simpson now maintains that by Galanter handling his appeal and oral arguments, the lawyer blocked Simpson from claiming Galanter had conflicted interests.

WILL SIMPSON TESTIFY?

Simpson is expected to testify Wednesday morning. He didn't even take the stand during his infamous 1995 trial in Los Angeles in which he was acquitted of killing ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. It would be his first public account of the Las Vegas caper that led to his arrest. He still maintains he didn't know that two of the five men with him that night at the Palace Station hotel brought guns.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS?

Four co-defendants pleaded guilty to felonies, testified for the prosecution and got off with probation. Clarence "C.J." Stewart was convicted with Simpson and served more than two years in prison before the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that Simpson's fame tainted Stewart's conviction. Stewart was granted a new trial but avoided retrial by pleading guilty to two felonies and was freed. He's now living in Louisiana.

Authorities hunting for a Northern California man suspected of killing of his wife and two young daughters have brought in dogs trained to search for cadavers.

While investigators have said they have no indication Shane Franklin Miller may be dead, the canines are part of a larger search through California's rugged and remote North Coast terrain.

More than 70 law enforcement officers from multiple jurisdictions are scouring the area for Miller, 45, suspected of killing his family last Tuesday in the rural community of Shingletown. All three victims were shot multiple times.

Investigators found Miller's abandoned pickup truck the next day near Petrolia, about 200 miles west of the home that Miller shared with his wife, Sandy, 34, and daughters, Shelby, 8, and Shasta, 5.

But they have found no traces of him.

"We're going up and down the area trying to figure out where he may have disappeared to," Humboldt County Sheriff's Lt. Wayne Hanson said Monday.

They've extensively searched the area where Miller's vehicle was found, Hanson said. Foot and air patrols including SWAT teams from various counties and U.S. Marshals will continue to canvass the area, he added.

The ground searches will also include door-to-door searches of residences in the area, the lieutenant said. Roadblocks will be maintained on main roads from Petrolia to Ferndale. Hanson said that's to protect residents if Miller tries to leave the area.

Meanwhile, about 100 people attended a community meeting on Sunday. Lieutenants from Humboldt and Shasta counties told the audience that an old acquaintance positively identified Miller as arriving in the area on Wednesday in the truck that was later found abandoned, Hanson said. The longtime acquaintance told officers that Miller did not appear to be angry or hostile.

Also during the meeting, Hanson said officials confirmed that a note written by Miller was found in the abandoned truck. Hanson could not provide further details on the contents of the note, but said if any ofMiller's family members were mentioned, they would have been immediately notified by the authorities.

As schools reopened on Monday, authorities are asking people to be cautious in their daily activities and to lock their doors at night.

"Right now, we're residents to remain on alert and not to investigate anything themselves," Hanson said. "That's what we're here for."

Columbia University is seeking to change the terms of a fellowship that can only be awarded to white students from Iowa.

The Lydia C. Roberts Graduate Fellowship stipulates that money be given only to "a person of the Caucasian race."

Roberts left Columbia most of her $509,000 estate when she died in 1920 and created the highly restrictive fellowship. In addition to the "whites only" rule, Roberts fellows must be from Iowa, must not study law or several other fields, and must return to Iowa for two years after graduating.

University officials filed court papers last week seeking to change the race provisions of the bequest.

The Daily News reports (http://nydn.us/13l65pi ) that Columbia hasn't awarded the fellowship since 1997.

A Columbia spokesman didn't return an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Two hikers lost for days in the Southern California wilderness won't be charged the $160,000 it took to find them.

The Orange County Register (http://bit.ly/13wreAd ) reports county supervisors made that decision in closed session on Tuesday. Board of Supervisors Chairman Shawn Nelson tells City News Service he thinks there's no legal way to force the hikers to reimburse their rescue costs — even though one is charged with a drug crime.

Nineteen-year-old Nicolas Cendoya and 18-year-old Kyndall Jack were rescued from the Cleveland National Forest last month after spending several days there without food or much water.

Authorities say methamphetamine was later found in Cendoya's car. He's been charged with felony possession and could get up to three years in prison if convicted.

___

Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com

A soldier assigned to coordinate a sexual assault prevention program in Texas is under investigation for "abusive sexual contact" and other alleged misconduct and has been suspended from his duties, the Army announced Tuesday.

Just last week an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office was himself arrested on charges of groping a woman in a parking lot.

The Army said a sergeant first class, whose name was not released, is accused of pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates. He is being investigated by the Army Criminal Investigation Command. No charges have been filed.

He had been assigned as an equal opportunity adviser and coordinator of a sexual harassment-assault prevention program at the Army's 3rd Corps headquarters at Fort Hood, Texas, when the allegation arose, the Army said.

"To protect the integrity of the investigative process and the rights of all persons involved, no more information will be released at this time," an Army statement said.

The back-to-back Army and Air Force cases highlight a problem that is drawing increased scrutiny in Congress and expressions of frustration from top Pentagon leaders. Pentagon press secretary George Little said after Tuesday's announcement that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is angry and disappointed at "these troubling allegations and the breakdown in discipline and standards they imply."

Little said Hagel met with Army Secretary John McHugh earlier Tuesday and ordered him to "fully investigate this matter rapidly, to discover the extent of these allegations and to ensure that all of those who might be involved are dealt with appropriately."

Hagel also is directing all the services to retrain, recredential, and rescreen all sexual assault prevention and response personnel and military recruiters, Little said.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Tuesday evening saying his panel is considering a number of measures to counter the problem, including changes to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and will act on them next month.

"Tragically, the depth of the sexual assault problem in our military was already overwhelmingly clear before this latest highly disturbing report," Levin said.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said she intends to present new comprehensive legislation on Thursday to reform the military justice system by removing chain-of-command influence from prosecution of sex abuse crimes.

"To say this report is disturbing would be a gross understatement," Gillibrand said. "For the second time in a week we are seeing someone who is supposed to be preventing sexual assault being investigated for committing that very act."

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., said in a statement he was "outraged and disgusted by the reports out of Fort Hood."

McKeon, noting he has a granddaughter in the Army, said he saw "no meaningful distinction between complacency or complicity in the military's latest failure to uphold their own standards of conduct. Nor do I see a distinction between the service member who orchestrated this offense and the chain of command that was either oblivious to or tolerant of criminal behavior. Both are accountable for this appalling breach of trust with their subordinates."

The Army announcement comes as the Pentagon continues to struggle with what it calls a growing epidemic of sexual assaults across the military. In a report last week, the Defense Department estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on survey results.

Of those, fewer than 3,400 reported the incident, and nearly 800 of them simply sought help but declined to file formal complaints against their alleged attackers.

The military is struggling with a variety of sexual assault scandals, including an ongoing investigation into more than 30 Air Force instructors for assaults on trainees at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and the recent arrest of the Air Force's head of sexual assault prevention on charges of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot.

A police report said that Air Force Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski was drunk and grabbed a woman's breast and buttocks. The woman fought him off and called police, the report said. A judge has set a July 18 trial date for Krusinski.

Congressional outrage over these incidents and two recent decisions by officers to overturn juries' guilty verdicts in sexual assault cases has prompted outrage on Capitol Hill.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin reversed the conviction of Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, a former inspector general at Aviano Air Base in Italy, who was found guilty last year of charges of abusive sexual contact, aggravated sexual assault and three instances of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

And Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is holding up the nomination of Air Force Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, tapped to serve as vice commander of the U.S. Space Command, until McCaskill gets more information about Helms' decision to overturn a jury conviction in a sexual assault case.

Members of Congress also met at the White House with senior administration officials to talk about measures to encourage more victims to come forward and ensure that perpetrators face justice.

A new criminal defense lawyer for the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev says his client will continue to cooperate with investigators but says he plans to keep quiet about the details of her case publicly because that could hurt the investigation.

New York lawyer Joshua Dratel, who has represented several terrorism suspects, joined Katherine Russell's legal team last week. He joins two Rhode Island-based lawyers who typically focus on civil cases.

Russell hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but she is under intense scrutiny by the FBI as it investigates the deadly April 15 bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Authorities say the attack was carried out by her husband and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Dratel told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he joined Russell's legal team because Russell needed someone who could navigate the criminal justice system and to protect her interests.He said she had spoken with investigators and planned to keep cooperating.

"I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future," he said. "There's no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital facing charges that could bring the death penalty. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died April 19 after a shootout with police.

Russell, 24, had been living in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, but has been staying with her parents in North Kingstown, R.I., since the day her husband was killed. She has reverted to using her maiden name, switching from her married name of Tsarnaeva.

Among the questions about Russell is what she knew or saw in the weeks leading up to the bombing, and in the days after it. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told the AP that Dzhokhar told investigators the bombs were assembled in the small apartment Russell shared with her husband. One of her Rhode Island lawyers has previously said she was working long hours and was frequently away from the apartment.

Dratel would not discuss details of Russell's life or relationship with her husband, and would not be specific when asked about her contact with federal investigators, such as when she had spoken with them. He said in his experience, investigators do not want people speaking to the media and publicizing what they are focusing on.

"It would be counterproductive for the investigation and for Katherine's interests for us to be more forthcoming at this time with any of the details," he said. "We wouldn't want to impair the investigation in any way."

The sole focus of Russell and her legal team, he said, was on the investigation.

"It's a fluid situation," Dratel said. "We're not at the end of it."

A new criminal defense lawyer for the widow of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev says his client will continue to cooperate with investigators but says he plans to keep quiet about the details of her case publicly because that could hurt the investigation.

New York lawyer Joshua Dratel, who has represented several terrorism suspects, joined Katherine Russell's legal team last week. He joins two Rhode Island-based lawyers who typically focus on civil cases.

Russell hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing, but she is under intense scrutiny by the FBI as it investigates the deadly April 15 bombing, which killed three people and injured more than 260. Authorities say the attack was carried out by her husband and his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Dratel told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he joined Russell's legal team because Russell needed someone who could navigate the criminal justice system and to protect her interests.He said she had spoken with investigators and planned to keep cooperating.

"I don't see that changing in the foreseeable future," he said. "There's no inconsistency between that and her interests at this point."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, is in a prison hospital facing charges that could bring the death penalty. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died April 19 after a shootout with police.

Russell, 24, had been living in Cambridge, Mass., with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, but has been staying with her parents in North Kingstown, R.I., since the day her husband was killed. She has reverted to using her maiden name, switching from her married name of Tsarnaeva.

Among the questions about Russell is what she knew or saw in the weeks leading up to the bombing, and in the days after it. Two U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have told the AP that Dzhokhar told investigators the bombs were assembled in the small apartment Russell shared with her husband. One of her Rhode Island lawyers has previously said she was working long hours and was frequently away from the apartment.

Dratel would not discuss details of Russell's life or relationship with her husband, and would not be specific when asked about her contact with federal investigators, such as when she had spoken with them. He said in his experience, investigators do not want people speaking to the media and publicizing what they are focusing on.

"It would be counterproductive for the investigation and for Katherine's interests for us to be more forthcoming at this time with any of the details," he said. "We wouldn't want to impair the investigation in any way."

The sole focus of Russell and her legal team, he said, was on the investigation.

"It's a fluid situation," Dratel said. "We're not at the end of it."