The judge who will officially sentence Donna J. Moonda has set a new date: 1:30 p.m. Sept. 21.

When Mrs. Moonda was spared the death penalty by a jury last month, U.S. District Court Judge David D. Dowd Jr., Akron, had floated a tentative date of Sept. 17.

The sentencing is somewhat of a formality as the seven-woman, five-man jury that found Mrs. Moonda, 49, of Hermitage, guilty of murder for hire, interstate stalking and two firearms charges has already settled on life in prison for the murder for hire charge. Dowd cannot change that decision.

He will set the sentences for the other charges.

Mrs. Moonda was convicted of hiring her lover, Damian R. Bradford, 26, of Beaver County, to murder her husband, Dr. Gulam H. Moonda, 69.

Bradford shot Dr. Moonda on May 13, 2005, in an emergency pulloff along the Ohio Turnpike in Cuyahoga County.

Bradford was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to interstate stalking and a firearms charge, and testified against Mrs. Moonda at her trial.