AKRON, Ohio -- Donna Moonda had a happy childhood but was spoiled by her parents and developed a "dependent personality disorder" that helped cause her to murder her husband, a psychologist testified yesterday.

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"I am sure she knew it was wrong," the psychologist, Dr. Robert Kaplan, said of her role in the murder. "But the dependent personality disorder affected her good judgment."

The odd claim that a stable, loving family life caused Mrs. Moonda to develop a deadly psychological problem ended her plea for mercy in the second stage of her trial.

Jurors will hear closing arguments this morning, then begin their deliberations on whether she should be put to death or spend the rest of her life in prison.

Mrs. Moonda, 48, of Hermitage, Pa., hired the young man with whom she was having an affair to murder her husband on the Ohio Turnpike. She watched as the roadside shooting was carried out by her boyfriend, but her defense during the first part of her trial was that she had no role in the crime.

Now that jurors have convicted her of murder for hire and related crimes, Mrs. Moonda is asking for a life sentence because of her psychological problems.

Dr. Kaplan, a $300-an-hour expert hired at taxpayer expense to assist in her defense, said she developed a series of dependencies. First, he said, she was dependent on her late father, then on her husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda, and finally on her 26-year-old boyfriend, Damian Bradford.

It was Mr. Bradford who shot and killed Dr. Moonda in May 2005. Mrs. Moonda's lawyers contend that he was the primary culprit in the murder.

Dr. Kaplan made a similar claim, saying Mrs. Moonda was "vulnerable to control," even by someone with evil intentions.

"You do things to please people that are against your best interests," Dr. Kaplan said.

During a 50-minute cross-examination, he admitted he had not checked on many of the claims made by Mrs. Moonda to make sure they were true.

For instance, Mrs. Moonda told Dr. Kaplan that she had only two lovers in her lifetime -- her husband and Mr. Bradford. Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Barr asked Dr. Kaplan if he had reviewed evidence suggesting that Mrs. Moonda was unfaithful in her marriage in 2003, a year before she met Mr. Bradford. Dr. Kaplan said he did not know what she meant.

So Ms. Barr produced a medical record in which Mrs. Moonda said she had been using condoms for birth control in 2003. Dr. Moonda had a vasectomy before he married Donna Moonda in 1990.

Ms. Barr also challenged Dr. Kaplan's finding that Mrs. Moonda developed post traumatic stress disorder because of the murder. He said Mrs. Moonda is suffering from nightmares, horrible flashbacks and visions of her husband's bloody face.

This part of the defense seemed to perplex jurors, who already have found that Mrs. Moonda was the mastermind of the murder. Still, Dr. Kaplan said she had developed post traumatic stress disorder, even though she knew her husband was about to be murdered and could brace herself for the gunshot that killed him.

Ms. Barr suggested that Mrs. Moonda was the sole source for the claim that she has the disorder, but Dr. Kaplan said he tested her thoroughly and she could not have tricked him. He said post traumatic stress disorder often haunts people for decades, mentioning that old soldiers and Holocaust survivors still suffer from it.

Ms. Barr asked him if he was equating Mrs. Moonda with a victim of the Holocaust. Dr. Kaplan said the prosecutor was oversimplifying his findings.

The defense called a second expert, James E. Aiken, to testify that life in prison would be a harsh punishment for Mrs. Moonda.

A former prison administrator in South Carolina and Indiana, Mr. Aiken said she faces a bleak existence, even if she avoids a death sentence. He said she would live in an 8-foot-by-10-foot cell until she dies.

"Imagine living in your bathroom for the rest of your life," he said.

On cross-examination, he conceded that federal prisons for women are not nearly as violent as those for men. He also said inmates watch television and have work details, but he resisted the prosecution's suggestion that Mrs. Moonda would develop a circle of friends in prison.

Gangs and hardened women from criminal enterprises could bully Mrs. Moonda, he said.

"She would be at a high degree of vulnerability -- picked on are the words for it," Mr. Aiken said.

Defense lawyer David L. Grant may have made his strongest argument by emphasizing that the triggerman, Mr. Bradford, will serve no more than 17¹/₂ years in prison. With "good time," Mr. Bradford could be back on the streets when he is 40 years old.

Mr. Grant asked Mr. Aiken if there was any way for Mrs. Moonda to shorten a life sentence, if that is what she gets.

"There is no 'good time' for those serving a life sentence," he said.

U.S. District Judge David Dowd instructed the jury of seven women and five men that they have to try to reach a unanimous verdict on whether Mrs. Moonda gets life or death. But he also said a single juror can thwart a death sentence if he or she decides the punishment is too harsh.

Jurors did not look at Mrs. Moonda, who alternately cried and smiled at her 77-year-old mother and her three sisters.

Mrs. Moonda's lawyers say a death sentence would be wrong for many reasons, including the pain it would cause Mrs. Moonda's family. Prosecutors countered that Dr. Moonda's family, friends and patients have been in pain since his murder, and likely always will be.