Ryan Carter Poston Case: Shayna Hubers, Two Trials, and Appeal

Ryan Poston, a 29-year-old Kentucky attorney, was shot and killed in his Highland Heights condominium on October 12, 2012, by his on-again, off-again girlfriend, Shayna Hubers. The Ryan Poston murder case produced two separate murder convictions — the first thrown out because a felon had served on the jury, the second upheld by the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2020. Hubers is serving a life sentence at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women.

Who Ryan Poston Was

Poston was 29 when he died. He ran his own law practice in Cincinnati and lived in a condominium in Highland Heights, Kentucky, while remaining tied to the Fort Mitchell community where he had grown up. His family later established the Ryan Carter Poston Scholarship Fund at Blessed Sacrament School in his memory, described as the largest trust fund in that school’s history.¹

Poston and Hubers had been in a turbulent 18-month relationship. Friends testified he had been trying to end it and had asked them, “How do I get rid of her?”² The night he was killed, he had a first date planned with Audrey Bolte, Miss Ohio 2012. Bolte testified that she waited at the meeting spot and he never arrived.³ Poston’s stepfather testified that in the days before the murder, Poston had been struggling with how to tell Hubers about the date.⁴

The Killing on October 12, 2012

Hubers shot Poston six times inside his condominium on the evening of October 12, 2012. Neighbors Vernon and Doris West reported hearing two shots, a pause, and then four more. They heard no screaming or sounds of a struggle beforehand.⁵

Hubers called 911 and told the operator: “He was right in front of me and he reached down and grabbed the gun, and I grabbed it out of his hands and pulled the trigger.”⁶ She also called her mother, saying, “Momma, what did I do? Ryan and I got into a physical fight and I killed him.” In her recorded interview later that night, she told police she had shot Poston once, waited, and then fired several more times “just to make sure he was dead.”⁷

The Text Message and the Interrogation

Two pieces of evidence became the spine of the prosecution’s case.

The first was a text message Hubers had sent 11 days before the killing, on October 1, 2012, to her friend Christy Oyler, a dentist. It read: “When I go to the shooting range with Ryan tonite I want to turn around, shoot and kill him and play like it’s an accident.”⁸ Prosecutors called it “blockbuster evidence.” Oyler testified that she had not taken the message seriously at the time but that its meaning shifted after Hubers shot Poston six times. A separate message to another friend around the same period said “a part of her” wanted to turn around and shoot Poston at the range.⁵

The second was Hubers’ recorded police interview. She had requested a lawyer but continued speaking with investigators on and off for more than two and a half hours.⁹ She cried, paced, and laughed. She was recorded dancing and snapping her fingers while humming, “I did it! Yes, I did it!” She asked, “Will anybody want to marry me?” Describing Poston’s death, she said, “I knew he was going to die a very slow and painful death. He was twitching and moaning, but I knew he was already dead.” Then, laughing, she added that she had given him “a nose job,” a reference to shooting him in the face.⁶

The Self-Defense Claim and Why Juries Rejected It

Hubers testified at her retrial that Poston pushed her to the floor that night and told her, “I could just kill you right now and get away with it.”¹⁰ She described him as controlling and violent, with loaded guns around the condo. The defense called forensic psychologist Dr. Thomas Schacht, who had interviewed Hubers for 37 hours and diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. Under cross-examination, however, Schacht confirmed that Hubers likely knew what she was doing when she shot Poston and that there was no basis for an insanity defense.¹¹

The prosecution attacked the self-defense narrative on physical and testimonial grounds. Highland Heights Police Chief Bill Birkenhauer testified that the crime scene appeared undisturbed, inconsistent with the violent struggle Hubers described.⁵ Prosecutors introduced hundreds of thousands of text messages, overwhelmingly sent by Hubers, documenting her obsession with Poston.

Three of Hubers’ fellow inmates testified against her:

Donna Dooley said Hubers admitted staging a fight by provoking Poston and throwing things around the condo to make it look like a struggle to neighbors, and that Poston was sitting at the kitchen table when Hubers shot him.¹²
Holly Nivens said Hubers admitted to self-inflicting bruises and positioning herself so neighbors would see them, and overheard Hubers tell her mother that Poston’s family was “rich enough to buy another son.”¹³
Cicely Miller said Hubers laughed while discussing the shooting, repeated the “nose job” remark, and boasted that she was “too smart” because she had an “IQ of Einstein.”¹²

Juror Laura Kirkwood, who served on the first jury, said afterward: “At no point did I buy the battered girlfriend defense. There was no evidence presented… I did not see any evidence of physical abuse.” She also pointed out that Hubers had a key to the condo and could have simply left.⁶

Two Trials, Two Convictions

Hubers was tried for murder in April 2015 in Campbell Circuit Court before Judge Fred A. Stine, with Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle Snodgrass prosecuting.⁷ The prosecution’s theory was jealousy: Poston was ending the relationship and planned a date that night with another woman. The jury convicted her and recommended 40 years in prison with parole eligibility after 20.¹⁴

The verdict did not survive. During appeal, a lawyer recognized one of the jurors as a former client he had represented in a 1992 child support case that ended in a felony conviction. Kentucky law bars convicted felons from serving on juries. The juror said he had not realized he was a felon and did not remember pleading guilty more than 20 years earlier. On August 25, 2016, Judge Stine overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.¹⁵

The retrial took place in August 2018 before Judge Daniel Zalla, again with Snodgrass prosecuting and defense attorney David Eldridge representing Hubers.¹⁶ The evidence was largely the same, but the defense leaned harder on “extreme emotional disturbance.” On August 28, 2018, the second jury also convicted Hubers of murder. The next day, they recommended a life sentence, considerably harsher than the first jury’s 40 years.¹⁷ Judge Zalla imposed the life sentence at a formal hearing on October 18, 2018, and denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial.

The Kentucky Supreme Court Appeal

Hubers appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court should have struck jurors who had knowledge of her first conviction and should have moved the trial to a different venue because of pretrial publicity. In a September 24, 2020, opinion, the Court rejected both arguments and affirmed the conviction and life sentence.¹⁸

On the juror issue, the Court held that a juror’s mere knowledge of a prior conviction is “not automatically disqualifying,” citing precedent that jurors need only be willing to decide based solely on the evidence at trial. The trial judge had mailed juror questionnaires in advance and questioned each potential juror individually. The Court found those same precautions adequate to address pretrial publicity, and it also affirmed rulings on the admissibility of testimony about Hubers’ lack of remorse and the exclusion of certain evidence about Poston’s prior drug use.⁵

Where Shayna Hubers Is Now

Hubers is incarcerated at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women under Campbell County Indictment No. 12-CR-00954. According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, her parole eligibility date is September 29, 2032.¹⁹

1
ABC News. Kentucky Woman Shayna Hubers on Trial for Boyfriend’s Murder
2
WCPO. Legal Expert: Shayna Hubers Missed a Gimme
3
Law & Crime. Here’s Everything Miss Ohio 2012 Said in the Shayna Hubers Murder Trial
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ABC News. Attorney Had Date Planned With Beauty Pageant Champion Night of Deadly Shooting
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FindLaw. Hubers v. Commonwealth
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ABC News. Juror Didn’t Buy Convicted Killer Shayna Hubers as Battered Girlfriend
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FOX19. Murder Trial Attracting National Attention
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WCPO. Shayna Hubers’ Texts Come Back to Haunt Her
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CBS News. Murder Suspect Shayna Hubers’ Bizarre Police Video
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E! Online. How the Evidence Piled Up Against Shayna Hubers
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Shayna Hubers Trial: Off the Stand After Detailed Testimony
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WCPO. Shayna Hubers’ Cellmates Say She Bragged About Killing Boyfriend
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Shayna Hubers Retrial Witness Testimony
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ABC News. Murdered Kentucky Lawyer’s Family on Shayna Hubers’ Sentencing
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ABC News. Shayna Hubers Granted New Trial After Juror Revealed as Felon
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Cincinnati Enquirer. Shayna Hubers Sentenced by Judge Zalla
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ABC News. Shayna Hubers Found Guilty at Retrial
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Local 12. Kentucky Supreme Court Upholds Shayna Hubers’ Life Sentence
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Kentucky Department of Corrections. Offender Lookup: Shayna Michelle Hubers