BOULDER -- The attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey has asked the district attorney to seek investigative help from the state attorney general, or admit the investigation of his clients is over and charges against them will not be filed.

Atlanta attorney L. Lin Wood, in a May 10 letter to District Attorney Mary Keenan, said the Ramseys "are not asking to be excluded from a new investigation" into the 1996 murder of their 6-year-old daughter, JonBenet.

If the investigation is sent to "experienced, unbiased homicide investigators, my clients pledge their full cooperation," he wrote.

Keenan refused to respond.

"I am not going to be baited by the Ramseys' attorney," she said Thursday.

A special criminal investigation cannot happen unless Gov. Bill Owens appoints a special prosecutor, or Keenan asks for help from Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar.

If that will not happen, "my clients are owed a public statement from you and the Boulder Police Department that . . . the investigation of John and Patsy Ramsey is over," Wood wrote.

City spokeswoman Jana Peterson declined to respond to Wood's letter, saying that it was addressed to the district attorney.

"The Boulder police do not wish to get into a tit-for-tat with the Ramsey attorney," she said.

Wood referenced recent interviews with Lou Smit, a former investigator assigned to the case, who discussed his theory on national television that an intruder murdered JonBenet.

"Many citizens share my feelings and the feelings of (the Ramseys) that the Boulder Police Department is not capable of solving this case," Wood wrote.