Widow to testify at trial in Akron

Attorneys have until Tuesday to challenge the ruling.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
AKRON -- Donna Moonda will have to travel here to testify in the trial of the man accused of slaying her husband on the Ohio Turnpike.
U.S. District Judge David Dowd Jr. denied a request from Moonda's attorney for a pretrial hearing to address whether she has to testify and if she can assert her Fifth Amendment privilege to not answer questions which may be incriminating to her.
Moonda's husband, Dr. Gulam Moonda, was slain in May 2005 on the Ohio Turnpike near Cleveland.
Damian Bradford, a Beaver County drug dealer who authorities contend was Mrs. Moonda's lover, has been charged with interstate stalking and using a firearm in a crime of violence in Dr. Moonda's death and is expected to go to trial July 24.
Prosecutors have revealed in pretrial motions that Mrs. Moonda and Bradford were in contact with each other by cellular telephone the day of the slaying.
The killing
Mrs. Moonda pulled to the side of the road to allow her husband to drive when he was shot by a man she contends robbed him. Mrs. Moonda and her mother, who was in the back seat, were not hurt. Both women have said they could not identify the shooter. Mrs. Moonda has not been charged in her husband's death.
Judge Dowd has decided that Mrs. Moonda must testify.
"If, in fact, the widow, Mrs. Moonda, was in or close by the vehicle at the time of the alleged stalking and killing of her husband, she is obligated to testify in response to questions by either government counsel or defense counsel unless the answer to the specific question would tend to incriminate her and she, not her chosen counsel, must assert the privilege," Judge Dowd wrote in his opinion.
The judge has given Mrs. Moonda's attorney until Tuesday to challenge his opinion.
cioffi@vindy.com