Published: Friday, June 29, 2007
On to the defense: Prosecution rests in case against Moonda
Donna Moonda could face the death penalty if convicted.
AKRON (AP) — Federal prosecutors rested their case Thursday against a woman accused of hiring her lover to kill her wealthy husband along the Ohio Turnpike.
U.S. attorneys called 40 witnesses over seven days of testimony, including triggerman Damian Bradford, who testified that Donna Moonda promised him half of her multimillion dollar inheritance if he killed Dr. Gulam Moonda, 69.
Moonda, of Hermitage, Pa., could receive the death penalty if convicted of hiring Bradford to kill her husband. The 48-year-old woman also is charged with interstate stalking and two counts of using or carrying a firearm in the commission of a violent crime.
Moonda's attorney, Roger Synenberg, began presenting her side of the case Thursday with Pittsburgh divorce attorney David Pollock, who testified that the doctor's wife would have received between $1.3 million and $1.5 million in a divorce. Prosecutors say a prenuptial agreement limited her to only $250,000 in a divorce.
Bradford's part
Synenberg, who has portrayed Bradford as a liar who acted alone, said the defense could finish calling witnesses and wrap up its case today.
Bradford has pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and a gun charge and promised to cooperate with authorities in return for a lenient sentence. The 25-year-old is expected to receive a 171/2-year sentence under a plea agreement.
He testified that on the day of the shooting, May 13, 2005, he followed the couple as they left their home in Hermitage, near the Ohio state line, and pulled in behind them when Donna Moonda stopped their car along the turnpike about 30 miles south of Cleveland. He ran to the passenger side of the car and confronted Gulam Moonda and shot him.
Bradford and Donna Moonda met in drug rehab. She was sentenced to rehab after pleading no contest to stealing the painkiller fentanyl from the hospital where she worked; he was a low-level cocaine dealer from Pittsburgh.
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