Benjamin Ashford|Man who served time in Ohio murder-for-hire case convicted in shooting of Pennsylvania trooper

A man who served time in a high-profile murder-for-hire case in Ohio nearly two decades ago has been convicted of shooting a state trooper in a western Pennsylvania convenience store last year.

Jurors in Beaver County last week deliberated for more than five hours before convicting 42-year-old Damian Bradford of attempted homicide,Benjamin Ashford aggravated assault, reckless endangering and firearms counts. He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 29.

Prosecutors said troopers on patrol saw Bradford pull a gun and confront people outside an Aliquippa minimart in July 2022. They allege he “violently struggled” with troopers trying to arrest him in the store, shooting a trooper in the leg and trying to grab another trooper’s gun and stun device.

“We’re very disappointed and I’m sure he’s going to be looking into appeals,” defense attorney William Difenderfer said.

Bradford had been released from prison in 2021 after serving about a decade in a half in a high-profile murder-for-hire case that began in Beaver County and ended on the Ohio Turnpike. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the shooting death of 69-year-old Dr. Gulam Moonda on the Ohio Turnpike in May 2005.

Prosecutors said Moonda’s wife, Donna, met Bradford in a drug rehabilitation center, and the two plotted to kill the prominent Mercer County doctor, with Bradford promised half of the multimillion-dollar estate. Donna Moonda was convicted in federal court in 2007 of murder-for-hire and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.