Donna Moonda has at least $125,000 in cash, but she received a court-appointed lawyer yesterday to defend her on a murder-for-hire charge.

Mrs. Moonda, 47, is accused of hiring her 25-year-old lover to kill her husband. The federal government is seeking the death penalty against her.

U.S. District Judge David Dowd of Akron, Ohio, appointed Cleveland lawyer Roger Synenberg to represent Mrs. Moonda at taxpayer expense. She already had retained Mr. Synenberg as private counsel, but that was before the government decided on a capital case.

Judge Dowd said the proceeding against Mrs. Moonda is "complex" because it involves the possibility of a death sentence.

Defendants in capital cases often receive court-appointed lawyers because they lack money. Mrs. Moonda, though, has sizable assets.

She disclosed in open court that she intended to spend her personal retirement account, worth between $125,000 and $175,000, on her legal defense. She also hoped to sell $200,000 in jewelry.

But the money she had on hand would not have been sufficient to defend a capital case, Mr. Synenberg said in an interview.

The judge will appoint a second lawyer to help Mr. Synenberg, also at taxpayer expense. Mr. Synenberg said Niki Z. Schwartz, who originally represented Mrs. Moonda, no longer is on the case.

The government's key witness is Damian Bradford, who was having an affair with Mrs. Moonda at the time of the crime. He has pleaded guilty to killing Dr. Gulam Moonda, 69, a Mercer County, Pa., urologist and her husband of 14 years.

Mr. Bradford followed the Moondas along the Ohio Turnpike on May 13, 2005. Mrs. Moonda stopped in an emergency pull-off lane seconds before Mr. Bradford arrived and shot the doctor in the face.

By his account, Mrs. Moonda was his partner in crime. He said he killed the doctor because she promised to share millions in inheritance and life insurance proceeds with him.

Mr. Bradford, formerly of Beaver County, Pa., has promised to testify against Mrs. Moonda. In return, he hopes to receive a prison sentence of no more than 17¹/₂ years.