A man who served time in a well-known murder-for-hire case in Ohio nearly two decades ago has been found guilty of shooting a state trooper in a western Pennsylvania convenience store last year.
Last week, jurors in Beaver County spent more than five hours deliberating before reaching a verdict, convicting 42-year-old Damian Bradford of attempted homicide, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, and firearms charges.
His sentencing is set for November 29.
According to prosecutors, troopers patrolling the area witnessed Bradford brandishing a firearm and confronting people outside an Aliquippa minimart in July 2022. They claim that he engaged in a violent struggle with the troopers who attempted to arrest him inside the store, ultimately shooting one trooper in the leg and attempting to seize another trooper's gun and stun device.
"We're very disappointed, and I'm sure he'll be exploring options for appeals," remarked defense attorney William Difenderfer.
Bradford had been released from prison in 2021 after serving approximately fifteen years in a high-profile murder-for-hire case that originated in Beaver County and concluded on the Ohio Turnpike. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges related to the shooting death of 69-year-old Dr. Gulam Moonda on the Ohio Turnpike in May 2005.
Prosecutors alleged that Donna Moonda, Dr. Moonda's wife, had met Bradford in a drug rehabilitation center, and together, they devised a plan to murder the prominent Mercer County doctor.
Bradford had been promised half of Dr. Moonda's multimillion-dollar estate. Donna Moonda was convicted in federal court in 2007 of murder-for-hire and received a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
In another devellopment, a woman who fatally pushed 87-year-old Broadway vocal coach Barbara Gustern in New York received a longer prison sentence than expected on Friday after pleading guilty to manslaughter in August. See detailed story here
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