AKRON, Ohio -- Jurors will begin deciding Thursday whether Donna Moonda is a murderer or a woman caught in a web of strange circumstances.

		A guide to the Moonda case Previous Post-Gazette articles, photos and graphics, plus federal court documents, are available on our Moonda index page.

Testimony in her trial ended yesterday with two rebuttal witnesses for federal prosecutors.

Lawyers for each side then began wrangling over the wording of jury instructions, leading Mrs. Moonda to speak for the first and only time during her three-week trial.

After the jury had been excused for the day, U.S. District Judge David Dowd asked Mrs. Moonda if she wanted a specific instruction about her decision not to testify. Judge Dowd said he could tell jurors she had "an absolute right" to remain silent and that her decision not to testify cannot be held against her.

After huddling with her lawyers, Mrs. Moonda told Judge Dowd she wanted him to read such an instruction to jurors when the trial resumes Thursday. The case is in recess until then because of the Fourth of July holiday.

		Listen in Staff writer Milan Simonich reports from Akron, Ohio, that testimony is complete in Donna Moonda's murder trial.

Mrs. Moonda, 48, of Hermitage, Pa., could be put to death if she is convicted. She is charged with hiring a young man with whom she was having an affair to murder her husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda. She witnessed the killing, which occurred after Mrs. Moonda abruptly pulled over the family Jaguar on the Ohio Turnpike.

Her lover, Damian Bradford, 25, was tailing the Moondas. Mr. Bradford stole Dr. Moonda's wallet, then shot him in the face. Mrs. Moonda told police the killer was a short, slight stranger, but she said she would never forget his voice.

Soon after, members of the Ohio highway patrol questioned Mrs. Moonda about her affair with Mr. Bradford. She admitted being unfaithful in her marriage, but insisted that Mr. Bradford could not have been the killer.

Last year, after investigators had built a massive case against Mr. Bradford, he pleaded guilty and said Mrs. Moonda hired him to kill her husband.

Her lawyers have suggested that Mr. Bradford acted alone. They say Mr. Bradford wore a mask and that the turnpike was so noisy Mrs. Moonda could not have recognized his voice.

During a brief interview yesterday, Mrs. Moonda's lead attorney deflected questions about why she did not testify to explain why she did not recognize Mr. Bradford.

"We don't have to say anything. We don't even have to be here, because the burden of proof is on the government," said the lawyer, Roger Synenberg.

During the trial, he made much of two knit hats found on the turnpike in the general vicinity of where Mr. Bradford ditched the wallet and credit cards he stole from Dr. Moonda. Mr. Synenberg has suggested that Mr. Bradford used such a cap to hide his face. He even said the hats, which had holes in them, could have been used as masks.

Prosecutors countered yesterday by calling a highway trooper and a forensic scientist to say that neither hat had holes in it when it was found.

The scientist, Melissa Zielaskiewicz of Ohio's state crime lab, said she cut out three pieces from each cap for DNA testing. She said she found male DNA on one cap, but it did not match Mr. Bradford. Too little DNA was available from the second cap to do comparison testing, she said.

Mr. Synenberg, on cross-examination, asked her if Mr. Bradford could have worn one of the caps the day of the murder. She said it was possible.

Mr. Bradford previously testified that he wore a black baseball cap when he shot Dr. Moonda. He said Mrs. Moonda looked right at him before he pulled the trigger, then lied about his appearance to throw off investigators.

He said their motive was money. Dr. Moonda, a 69-year-old urologist, had amassed an estate worth millions.

Mr. Bradford said Donna Moonda told him the doctor had offered her $1 million in a divorce settlement, but she wanted more. He said this led her to mastermind the murder plan and recruit him as the killer.