Defense attorneys for Donna Moonda may have less than two months to prepare for a death penalty case against their client.

Yesterday, the U.S. attorney's office for the Northern District of Ohio filed notice that it intends to seek death by lethal injection for Mrs. Moonda for her role in the slaying of her husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda, along the Ohio Turnpike in May 2005.

Her trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 23 in Akron, Ohio, though it is doubtful it will proceed quickly now that the death penalty is on the table.

One of Mrs. Moonda's defense attorneys, Roger Synenberg, said he was disappointed in the prosecution's decision, especially considering that the triggerman in the shooting is looking at only 17 1/2 years in prison.

"We continue to maintain her innocence," he said.

In a five-page document, prosecutors outlined three aggravating circumstances in the case that they believe justify capital punishment: Mrs. Moonda promising to pay the shooter, Damian Bradford, in exchange for him killing her husband; expecting to collect money from Dr. Moonda's estate upon his death; and spending substantial time planning her husband's death.

Dr. Moonda, a 69-year-old Mercer County urologist, was shot in the right temple alongside the turnpike just 16 miles south of Cleveland, while traveling with his wife and her mother, Dorothy Smouse, to Toledo, Ohio.

Mrs. Moonda told police that an unidentified man in a dark van approached their gold Jaguar after they pulled off the highway to switch drivers. That man, she said, demanded money from her husband, shot him and then fled.

In the 16 months since the crime occurred, investigators -- with the help of Mr. Bradford's confession -- have pieced together a different story.

Mr. Bradford, who met Mrs. Moonda in a drug rehabilitation program in Beaver County, followed the Moondas' vehicle from Pennsylvania into Ohio, according to cell phone tower tracking records. He pulled over when they did and shot Mr. Moonda about 6:30 p.m.

Mr. Bradford said he expected to receive half of Dr. Moonda's estate for killing him.

He was supposed to go on trial in July, but after Mr. Bradford learned that Mrs. Moonda planned to refuse to answer any questions that could incriminate herself in his trial, he arranged a plea.

Mr. Bradford pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and a firearms charge.

Mr. Synenberg expressed disgust at the deal prosecutors offered Mr. Bradford, whom he called "a drug dealer, a user and a known liar."

"That's how desperately they wanted my client that they gave him such a sweetheart deal," he said. "It's difficult to reconcile how someone who can put a gun to someone's head and pull the trigger is getting released [that quickly], while Mrs. Moonda can face the death penalty."

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Edwards would not comment on that, saying: "I don't respond to anything a defense attorney says except in court."

Part of the defense strategy at Mrs. Moonda's trial will be to attack Mr. Bradford's credibility, Mr. Synenberg said.