AKRON, Ohio -- Even Donna Moonda's lawyers admit she conned her husband. She took his money and used it to pay for her young boyfriend's vehicles, rent, clothes and jewelry.
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A guide to the Moonda case
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Starting today, jurors will decide if Mrs. Moonda also turned her lover into a hit man.
Mrs. Moonda's murder trial resumes this morning in federal court with prosecutors and defense lawyers each getting two hours for closing arguments. The question of whether she orchestrated the murder of her husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda, should be in the hands of jurors by mid-afternoon.
They will determine whether Mrs. Moonda, of Hermitage, Pa., is guilty or not guilty of four felonies: murder for hire, interstate stalking and two counts of aiding in the use of a firearm that caused the death of her husband.
Three of the four are capital counts that could carry a death sentence if the jurors convict her.
Mrs. Moonda, 48, broke down and cried in front of jurors on three different days. Many of her tears came during the testimony of Damian Bradford, 25, the man who killed Dr. Moonda.
Mr. Bradford and Mrs. Moonda began an affair after they met in spring 2004 while both were patients in a drug rehabilitation center. By the end of 2004, Mr. Bradford said, they were talking about murdering Dr. Moonda.
Mr. Bradford testified that Mrs. Moonda first asked him to find somebody to kill her husband. Eventually, Mr. Bradford said, she hired him to shoot Dr. Moonda. He said he was to get half of Mrs. Moonda's multimillion-dollar inheritance.
He shot 69-year-old Dr. Moonda on the Ohio Turnpike on May 13, 2005. Mrs. Moonda had pulled over, purportedly so her husband could drive. Mr. Bradford, who had been tailing the Moondas, stole Dr. Moonda's wallet, then shot him in the face.
"It was supposed to look like a robbery gone bad," Mr. Bradford said.
Mrs. Moonda told police she did not recognize the gunman. She described him as slight of build and about 5 feet 3 inches tall. She said she could not determine his race.
"Her description was so vague it gave us nothing to go by," said Lt. Judy Neel of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Mr. Bradford said Mrs. Moonda's imprecise description was part of the murder plot. She was supposed to mislead investigators so he could get away, he said.
But police, using cell phone tracking records, placed Mr. Bradford at the murder scene. He pleaded guilty last year and then implicated Mrs. Moonda, saying she masterminded her husband's murder.
Mr. Bradford said Mrs. Moonda even wanted him to give her "a flesh wound," so police would be less likely to suspect her of involvement.
Mrs. Moonda did not testify during her three-week trial, but her lawyers suggested that Mr. Bradford killed the doctor on his own. They contend that Mrs. Moonda did not recognize him because he wore a mask. Mr. Bradford said his face was uncovered.
The defense also has tried to claim that Mr. Bradford must have borrowed a dark-colored van and used it the day of the killing. Mrs. Moonda told police she thought the shooter fled in such a vehicle.
Mr. Bradford, though, said he drove a silver TrailBlazer -- one of two vehicles Mrs. Moonda bought for him.
While denouncing Mr. Bradford, the defense has attempted to portray Mrs. Moonda as a decent woman who strayed into an extramarital affair.
In doing this, Mrs. Moonda's lead attorney, Roger Synenberg, provided conflicting descriptions of her. One moment he extolled her intelligence, telling the jury she has a master's degree in nursing. Then he called her "a naive housewife" who was used by Mr. Bradford.
Prosecutors pored over Mrs. Moonda's text messages to Mr. Bradford and found entries that they said showed her to be anything but naive.
In one message, Mrs. Moonda referred to her husband as "my prison guard." In another, she congratulated Mr. Bradford for smashing the headlights of a motorist who had angered him.
She and Mr. Bradford met in person six hours before the killing. They also exchanged 15 text messages and eight cell phone calls that day.
Mr. Synenberg said they often talked and met because they were having an affair, not because they were partners in a murder plot.
The jurors, seven women and five men, have listened with interest to every claim and counterclaim.
Mr. Synenberg asked U.S. District Judge David Dowd not to use the word "exculpatory" when instructing jurors, saying they would not understand the meaning. Judge Dowd had a fast reply: "This is a pretty smart jury."
Soon the jurors will put their heads together to decide Mrs. Moonda's fate.
