AKRON, Ohio -- All five lawyers in Donna Moonda's murder trial will be muzzled when jury selection starts Monday.

Mrs. Moonda, 48, of Hermitage, Mercer County, will go on trial for hiring a young man to murder her husband on the Ohio Turnpike on May 13, 2005. She and the admitted killer, Damian Bradford, 25, were having an affair at the time.

U.S. District Judge David Dowd has decided that he alone will question more than 200 prospective jurors who have been summoned for the case.

The two prosecutors and three defense lawyers also wanted to interrogate people in the jury pool, but Judge Dowd would not allow it.

"We'll be picking a jury until July if we do it that way," said the judge, who is 78 years old and has been presiding over trials since 1975.

With his streamlined selection system, Judge Dowd hopes to have 12 jurors and four alternates impaneled by June 18.

Before he questions anyone, prospective jurors will fill out detailed forms that are designed to expose any overt biases or conflicts they have. Lawyers from each side helped draft the written questions, which cover topics from infidelity to drug abuse to capital punishment.

But if the attorneys want to learn more about a prospective juror's attitudes regarding Mrs. Moonda's lifestyle or the death penalty, which she could face, they have to hope Judge Dowd elicits the information for them.

Mrs. Moonda admits her romantic involvement with Mr. Bradford, but says she had nothing to do with the death of her husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda, a wealthy 69-year-old urologist. Her lawyers plan an all-out attack on Mr. Bradford's credibility, and they think they can shake his story.

"This is a winnable case," said David L. Grant, one of her attorneys.

Mr. Bradford, who pleaded guilty last year, is being prepared by federal prosecutors to testify against Mrs. Moonda. He met her in March 2004 when both were patients in a drug rehabilitation center.

By the end of 2004, Mr. Bradford said, Mrs. Moonda was plotting her husband's murder and recruiting him as the triggerman.

He said she expected to collect $3 million to $6 million in inheritance and life insurance proceeds. Mr. Bradford said she promised to share her windfall with him after he killed Dr. Moonda.

Had Mrs. Moonda divorced her husband, she would have been limited to a $250,000 settlement because of a prenuptial agreement.

The prosecution and defense each will be able to disqualify up to 20 prospective jurors once Judge Dowd starts his questioning. The judge also has imposed strict rules for that part of the selection process.

If lawyers decide to dismiss a prospective juror, they will not know who is next in line. Both sides said they would prefer to know who the replacement would be before they excuse a juror.

"I know that's what you want, but that's not how we're going to do it," said Judge Dowd, who believes his system will speed up the trial.

At the federal building in Akron, lawyers half-jokingly say that Judge Dowd would have wrapped up O.J. Simpson's murder trial in two weeks. Under Judge Lance Ito, the Simpson case lasted nine months.

In preparation for Mrs. Moonda's trial, Judge Dowd has handled almost 200 separate motions and filings by the lawyers. His diligence impressed everyone, even if his decisions did not.

"I don't agree with some of his rulings in this case, but you won't find a harder-working judge," said Roger Synenberg, Mrs. Moonda's lead attorney.

Judge Dowd received his law degree in 1954 and worked as a prosecutor in Stark County, Ohio, for 15 years. After serving as a state appellate judge and a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, he was appointed to the federal bench in 1982 by President Reagan.

Until Mrs. Moonda's trial, Judge Dowd said, he had not handled a capital case since 1976.

She was arrested in July and will go on trial 11 months later. One reason her case has moved forward that quickly was Judge Dowd's decision to provide Mrs. Moonda with three lawyers, all at taxpayer expense.

Prosecutors fought him on the issue, arguing that two defense lawyers would be sufficient. But because Mrs. Moonda's life is at stake and prosecutors had a sizable head start in preparing their case, Judge Dowd gave her the manpower she requested.

He budgeted about $465,000 in public money for her three attorneys and experts. The lawyers, though, may seek additional compensation before the case is finished.

Taxpayers are footing the bill for Mrs. Moonda's defense for one reason: Because she is charged in the murder of her husband, she cannot gain access to his money, including about $2 million they held in joint accounts.