Woman Gets Life In Prison For Killing Boyfriend Who Planned To Leave Her For Date With Miss Ohio

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A Kentucky woman was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in a retrial for murdering her boyfriend because he planned to leave her, a Campbell County court clerk confirms to PEOPLE.

On Oct, 12, 2012, Shayna Hubers fatally shot her boyfriend, Ryan Carter Poston, who was found dead in his Highland Heights home, ABC News reports. Hubers' defense argued that Poston, a lawyer, was abusive and that she shot him in self-defense, but the jury rejected the claim.

During a two-week trial in August, prosecutors said Hubers, now 27, executed her boyfriend when she shot him six times.

“Shayna Hubers herself told the police that she kept shooting Ryan Poston as he lay twitching and made noise until she, in her own words, finished him off, 'put him out of his misery' with one final blow,” Campbell County Assistant Prosecutor Kyle Burns said during opening arguments, according to local TV station WCPO.

Poston planned to leave Hubers and was scheduled to go on a date with former Miss Ohio Beauty Queen Audrey Bolte, the TV station reported.

The Cincinnati Inquirer reports Huber will be eligible to see a parole board in 14 years because she has already been incarcerated for six years.

Hubers' defense attorney argued she had sexual abuse, drug abuse and PTSD in her background, the station reported. On the night of the murder, her attorney claimed Poston attacked her.

Ryan Poston

"We believe the evidence will show that Miss Hubers is not guilty of this crime [and] that she was privileged to have self-protection where she was acting under extreme emotional distress," defense attorney James Eldridge said during the retrial.

A key piece of evidence prosecutors presented at trial was a video of a police interview with Hubers hours after the murder in which she danced and sang “Amazing Grace” in the interrogation room and said, “I did it. Yes, I did it. I can't believe I did that.”

At Thursday's sentencing, Poston's father asked the judge to delay Hubers' release as long as possible, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Audrey BolteIsaac Brekken / Getty

"Evil, for reasons only evil knows, took it upon herself to take from us that which she could never possess," Jay Poston reportedly said.

Initially, Hubers was found guilty in 2015 and sentenced to 40 years in prison, but the verdict was overturned because one of the jurors was a felon, reports local TV station WXIX. She had been behind bars since her initial conviction.

In a statement obtained by ABC, the Poston family said they were “eternally grateful” to the jurors.

"Those who love Ryan now move forward with the integrity, dignity, and kindness that Ryan exemplified throughout his life," his family said. “Today we embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy. It has been six long and heartbreaking years without our beloved Ryan.”

PEOPLE was unable to immediately reach Hubers' defense attorney, David Eldridge, and it was not immediately clear if she plans to appeal.