Jurors convict girlfriend in lawyer's murder; prosecutor argued she was a 'manipulator'
Jurors in Newport, Kentucky, convicted 24-year-old Shayna Hubers on Thursday of murdering her lawyer boyfriend on the night he was scheduled to meet a beauty queen for a date.
Jurors deliberated about five hours before rejecting Hubers’ claim that she acted in self-defense and finding her guilty of the October 2012 murder of 29-year-old Cincinnati lawyer Ryan Poston, report the Cincinnati Enquirer, WCPO and the Daily Mail. Jurors found Hubers guilty of the most severe charge, rejecting lesser charges that ranged from first-degree manslaughter to reckless homicide.
Sentencing is scheduled for Friday morning.
In closing arguments on Thursday, Commonwealth’s Attorney Michelle Snodgrass argued that the six shots fired by Huber support the murder charge. “She’s shown us that she’s a manipulator, she’s shown us that she will say anything she can to get what she wants and, most importantly, what she showed us on October 12, 2012, is that she’s a murderer,” Snodgress said.
Poston was scheduled to meet Miss Ohio 2012 for a date on the night he was killed. Poston’s stepfather, Peter Carter, had testified that Poston had asked his advice on how to tell Hubers about his date. “He said to me, ‘My biggest issue is … Shayna is always around,’ ” Carter testified. “He said, ‘I don’t know what to do to get her to leave.’ ”
Hubers’ cellmate, Cecily Miller, testified that Hubers laughed about the shooting and said she gave Poston the nose job he always wanted. “That’s what bothered me – she cackled,” Miller said.
Miller also said Hubers discussed her legal strategy. “She said she was going to plead insanity, but she was too smart because she has the IQ of Einstein,” she told the jury. “So she was going to plead battered wife syndrome.”
Poston’s family released a statement after the verdict. “The senselessness of this action is a tragedy for all families – both Ryan’s and his assailant’s,” the statement said. “And while we wish that this trial could bring Ryan back to us, we understand that it can only provide justice. The same kind of justice that Ryan sought for his clients everyday. Ryan believed in the legal system. And today it worked.”
