Damian R. Bradford went to court yesterday on a probation violation, but used the opportunity to say he is innocent of the May murder of Dr. Gulam Moonda on the Ohio Turnpike.

"I'm not a bad guy," Mr. Bradford said. "I have not involved myself in violent crimes."

Mr. Bradford, 24, testified under oath in Beaver County as part of a hearing at which prosecutors sought to keep him in jail for up to three more years for violating conditions of his probation.

Common Pleas Judge John D. McBride decided the state did not prove six of its seven allegations against Mr. Bradford. So he imposed a lesser sentence of six to 23¹/₂ months that could allow Mr. Bradford to go free as soon as next month. Mr. Bradford has been in jail for five months already, since his arrest and subsequent conviction for possession of illegal steroids.

After taking the witness stand in his own defense, Mr. Bradford spoke publicly for the first time since police branded him "a person of interest" in the May 13 shooting death of Dr. Moonda.

Mr. Bradford described himself as "a recovering addict" who has not used recreational drugs in 18 months. A bodybuilder with an interest in professional wrestling, Mr. Bradford admitted that he had small amounts of anabolic steroids in three containers when police raided his apartment May 20.

Investigators were looking not for drugs, but for evidence tying Mr. Bradford to the Moonda murder case. Pennsylvania State Police say Mr. Bradford was in a relationship with Dr. Moonda's wife, Donna, in the months before her husband was killed by an unknown gunman.

Mr. Bradford and Donna Moonda, 46, met last year in a drug rehabilitation program. His addiction was to cocaine and hers to the painkiller fentanyl. She admitted stealing the drug from a Mercer County hospital where she worked as a nurse anesthetist.

Gulam Moonda, who was 69 when he died, practiced urology for 35 years in Mercer County. Whether he knew his wife was seeing Mr. Bradford in Beaver County is unknown.

Mr. Bradford's lawyers argued yesterday that the steroid charge was a minor matter, but it gave police and prosecutors an opening to jail him and pressure him about Dr. Moonda's murder.

Beaver County's Adult Probation and Parole Department had claimed that one of Mr. Bradford's probation violations was leaving Pennsylvania and entering Ohio. An implication of this charge was that Mr. Bradford might have traveled to Ohio the evening Dr. Moonda was shot dead.

Assistant District Attorney Ronald DiGiorno opened yesterday's hearing by withdrawing the claim that Mr. Bradford had been in Ohio. Mr. DiGiorno said all he had was "hearsay," not solid proof.

The state also faltered on another claim it brought against Mr. Bradford. Judge McBride said he would not consider testimony that Mr. Bradford tied up and assaulted his girlfriend, Charlene McFrazier, in September 2004. That charge against Mr. Bradford was dismissed after he completed an anger management program.

Ms. McFrazier was in court yesterday in a show of support for Mr. Bradford.

Mr. Bradford initially was on probation because he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm. He still owes about $3,000 in criminal fines, which the state said constituted another probation violation.

Judge McBride said most of the state's case amounted to technical violations that had not been proved.

"By no means is this the worst probation violation case I have seen this year or even this day," Judge McBride said.

He ruled that the admission of guilt in the steroid case was the only clear-cut probation violation. Judge McBride said Mr. Bradford's jail sentence for the violation is to run concurrently with time he is serving for his steroid conviction.

Mr. Bradford's lawyers were ecstatic. They can petition the court for his release Nov. 21, after he has completed his minimum six-month sentence.

Almost six months have passed since Dr. Moonda's slaying, and no one has been charged in his death.