Girlfriend convicted in lawyer's murder won't be eligible for early parole because of judge's ruling
A 24-year-old woman convicted for killing her lawyer boyfriend on the night of his date with a beauty queen won’t be eligible for early parole.
Judge Fred Stine sentenced Shayna Hubers to 40 years in prison on Friday after ruling she was not a victim of domestic violence, report the Cincinnati Enquirer, WLWT5 and WCPO.
A contrary ruling on the domestic violence issue would have made Hubers eligible for parole in five-and-a-half years. Now she will have to serve at least 85 percent of her sentence, according to WCPO.
Stine said he had considered imposing more than a 40-year sentence because Hubers never showed remorse for shooting and killing Ryan Poston in October 2012. “I never heard a word or saw a look that said, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Stine said.
The murder is “probably as cold-blooded an act as I’ve been associated with in the criminal justice system,” Stine said.
Stine said Hubers and Poston weren’t living together as an established couple. As a result, she couldn’t be considered a victim of domestic violence under Kentucky law.
Hubers had claimed she was acting in self-defense when she killed Poston, who was scheduled to meet another woman for a date the night he was killed. The prosecutor had argued that Hubers is a manipulator who will say anything to get what she wants.
A psychologist who testified before sentencing said Hubers has a narcissistic personality and “extreme difficulty with rejection.”
During the trial, 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,” Miller told the jury. “So she was going to plead battered wife syndrome.”
