Damian Bradford sentenced to 36 1/2 to 73 years for shooting state trooper in Aliquippa
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A man involved in a high-profile murder-for-hire case in 2005 is going back to prison for at least 36 1/2 years for shooting a state trooper in an Aliquippa convenience store last year.
A judge sentenced Damian Bradford to 36 1/2 to 73 years on Wednesday. A jury in September found him guilty on all counts, including attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
The judge told Bradford he wasn't even out of jail long enough to be off federal parole when he found himself with a gun in his hand again. The judge called Bradford smart but also called him manipulative and didn't find his testimony sincere. His defense attorney, William Difenderfer, called the sentence "heavy."
"I disrespectfully disagree with the verdict in that we're talking about a split second, a struggle over the handgun, one discharge, that was it, it was on the knee -- I don't think it was aimed anywhere. It was a struggle," Difenderfer said.
Police said troopers on patrol along Franklin Avenue saw Bradford pull out a gun and confront people outside the Franklin Mini-Mart in July 2022. Troopers approached Bradford and he ran into the store. According to court paperwork, when troopers tried to restrain Bradford, he "violently struggled" before Bradford shot trooper Jonnie Schooley in the leg.
The criminal complaint said Bradford also tried to grab another trooper's gun and taser before he was finally arrested with the help of a civilian. Citizens helped get Schooley out of the store and stop the bleeding from his wound.
Bradford also made headlines in 2005 for a case that involved a love triangle, money and murder. Bradford admitted to shooting and killing Dr. Gulam H. Moonda along the Ohio Turnpike. Bradford testified against Moonda's wife Donna, telling authorities it was a murder-for-hire case. The two were having an affair.
In that case, Bradford was released from prison in 2021 while Donna Moonda is serving a life sentence for her role in her husband's death.
Prosecutor Chad Parks said Bradford's actions show he never learned his lesson.
"Due to the fact that he not only shot him and caused serious bodily injury, which was the basis for the aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer, but by also possessing that extra element of intent to kill, that the court should impose a separate sentence as well," Parks said.
In court Wednesday, Bradford told the trooper he was sorry and said it was an accidental discharge, calling it "just one shot." The judge said it was "just one shot" that almost made the trooper's wife a widow and made his kids grow up without a father.
