WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioJudge Lets Government Seek Death Penalty in Turnpike Slaying

Judge Lets Government Seek Death Penalty in Turnpike Slaying

A judge in Akron today gave prosecutors clearance to seek the death penalty against a woman in the slaying of her millionaire husband along the Ohio Turnpike in 2005.

The ruling came from federal Judge David Dowd. He will preside at the trial of Donna Moonda of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, in June. The judge rejected a defense challenge to the federal death penalty law. Moonda has been charged with murder for hire and other counts in the death of her husband, Doctor Gulam Moonda, along the turnpike south of Cleveland.

Her reputed lover has pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and a gun charge. He says Mrs. Moonda hired him to kill her husband.