This is Deborah Roberts. Welcome to the 2020 true crime vault. Each week, we reach back into our archives and bring you a story we found unforgettable.

Only a true psychopath could do this. Pool of blood coming from his head.

Somebody had been paid to kill me.

Why would you want your husband killed?

Take a listen.

Coming up, a dark knight and a handsome young lawyer dead.

I'm standing about 50 from his dead body.

A small town that hasn't seen a murder in years.

Their heart's pounding right now.

Oh, it's. Yes, it's beating really fast. I can see the body.

The victim had it all. Career on the rise, blue blood family, so many friends, so many beautiful women. But someone wanted him dead.

Police in Highland Heights are still trying to piece together exactly what led to the fatal shooting.

Shot with his own gun.

Six shots.

And down he went to the floor.

Clues left behind. Weapons, prescription pills, angry texts.

He was stressed out, absolutely stressed out.

And something else told her to be quiet.

Get on the ground. Had my gun pointed at her.

Who was with him that night?

It was like I was. It was out of body experience.

And did she have a motive for murder?

She was in pain. There was fear in her voice. My love has turned to hate.

How did it go from mad love to bad blood? I'm John Quinones. It was a tumultuous relationship. One partner wanting out the other clinging to the hope of something more. And when it did finally end with the death of Ryan Poston, what happened seemed clear. Shayna Hubers admitted she pulled the trigger. But was it, as she said, an act of self defense against a lover out of control? Or was she, as the prosecution claimed, unhinged by jealousy and determined that if she couldn't have him, then no one else could? As Gio Benitez first reported in 2015, their story would be revealed through tens of thousands of texts, texts that would suddenly stop one chilling night.

It's mid October, Friday night, not far from the bright lights of Cincinnati, across the Ohio river in the small suburb of Highland Heights, Kentucky. A typical small town full of fast food on the highways. But life is rather slow. The big news is the high school football team, the Bluebirds, are undefeated. It's a crisp and clear evening, an autumn chill in the air. And at a bar called the Milford Inn, a beautiful woman is waiting. She had connected with a handsome young lawyer on Facebook through mutual friends. And on this night, she and Ryan Poston were to meet each other face to face for the first time, for a casual night of fun and shooting. Pool. It seemed a perfect match. The woman, a beauty queen. Brian Posen, a catch in his own right. Many women had found him appealing, including this one. So you two were just really in love.

I thought he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen in my life. It was love at first sight. And I guess it was three days later, and I had to key to his apartment.

For about two years, Lauren Worley was with Ryan. They even got these dogs, Max and Lily, together. When they met. Lauren was a student at Chase law school at nearby northern Kentucky University. And Ryan, who had already graduated from there, was studying for the bar exam. So there was that electricity between you two, right?

It really was. And I kept remember thinking, I cannot believe that he wants to date me like he is just so perfect and so beautiful.

Cause if you're not gorgeous.

Well, I appreciate that, but, I mean, Ryan Poston is one of a kind. I thought that he was perfect for her.

Lauren's former roommate, Emmy Reynolds, thought it was a match made in heaven. And I know you even compared Ryan to a character of Twilight, right?

I did. I did. You know, the character Edward, he is just such a protector. So soft spoken. Are you afraid? Always there. Even his build was similar to Ryan's. I felt so loved.

To Lauren, 29 year old Ryan was the whole package. He had the brains to match his good looks, plus a loving and highly successful family.

Sort of like the movers and shakers, people that have been around for a very long time doing very big things.

You know, our families have been friends for 2025 years.

I got to know Tom Awadawa and Matt Herron were two long time buddies who agree that Ryan's spell wasn't just cast on women. It was a magnetic person to be around. And he would tell you why he wanted to become a lawyer.

Yeah. Yeah, I think he wanted to help people. I know one of the cases that he was most proud of that he was working on was a young boy had been bitten in the face by a dog and required all kinds of reconstructive surgery. And just trying to secure a settlement on his behalf, I think that was something that he was really passionate about.

You would go and hang out in bars just like this?

Yeah, we'd go out a lot. Every weekend, probably.

They say nights with Ryan in bars like this wouldn't result in your usual drunk talk, but rather nonstop debate sessions. He could literally talk about anything and everything. He was passionate about so many things. Philosophy, politics. They say Ryan had strong feelings on many subjects, among them, guns. He liked guns.

He believed in the ideology of gun ownership and he believed guns can make society safer.

He always had them. He would have it in his boot, he would have it in his holster. It was almost like, that's the guy that is a man and he can protect.

To Lauren, Ryan's comfort with guns made her feel safe. They'd practice shooting together at the range. Ken, he even showed you how to use them, right?

Yes. And he said, you know, I want you to know how these guns work because I don't want you to pick them up and accidentally, you know, hurt yourself.

But Lauren says, as great a catch as Ryan was, in the end, the timing wasn't right for them. They eventually broke up.

We broke up. Always thinking, I think in the back of my mind at least, that we were going to get back together.

But meanwhile, another one of Ryan Poston's relationships was disintegrating.

He was stressed out, absolutely stressed out.

Crystal Ojozo was a friend that Ryan had hired at his law firm in this building in downtown Cincinnati. But he was having a bitter falling out with his partner.

It was sucking the life out of him, literally.

In the midst of the fight, he sends Crystal an angry Facebook message ranting about the lawsuit between him and his partner, saying, I want this piece of expletive destroyed. Bury him neck deep at low tide, throw darts at his head, wait for high tide to roll in so I can stomp on his head while hes drowning. An uncharacteristic display of anger, his friends say. And now something else is incongruous. The usually reliable Ryan has left his date sitting alone, waiting for him at the Milford Inn. Per text to him unanswered. The reason Ryan never showed up because he's lying in a pool of his own blood in his Highland Heights condo County 911. Ryan has been shot and help won't make it in time.

Are you sure that he is dead? He's dead, man. He's completely dead.

This is Highland Heights. It doesn't happen in Highland Heights.

The mystery on Meadow Lane is only just beginning. Coming up, who was the woman on that 911 call?

I was standing about 10ft from his dead body.

Told her to be quiet, get on the ground, have my gun pointed at her.

And why was she in his apartment that night? Do you think that she was just a gold digger?

Actually, yes.

When we come back.

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Documentary Kratz, now streaming only on Hulu.

Another fall weekend is just underway in this part of Kentucky. It should be quiet, but it's not. It was a very normal Friday night, but you get a really unusual call. You're hearing about a shooting. Dave Fornash is an 18 year veteran of the Highland Heights police force.

This is Highland Heights. It doesn't happen in Highland Heights.

I'm standing about 3ft from his dead. That's okay.

This 911 call just received, and it's a woman's voice.

Ma'am, I have. I killed my boyfriend. What did you kill him with? I got a loaded gun in the house.

I turned on my lights and took off.

You were about a mile away.

Correct.

So you were pretty close. Correct. He pulls into this condo complex. There's about 20 units lining both sides of Meadow Lane. So you parked the car and you're just walking now?

Right here.

It is right here. Building number twelve.

Building number twelve.

He enters building twelve and heads up the stairs.

And we're listening for stuff as we go up the steps.

Another officer now with him as he approaches number ten, the condo belonging to that young lawyer, 29 year old Ryan Poston. The shooter is still on the phone.

Ma'am, I want you to go to your front door. I want you to open it up, walk outside the door with your hands in front of you. It's okay, I will.

So that door opens up. A young woman emerges. Early twenties, slim, about five eight, long brown hair.

Told her to be quiet, get on the ground, have my gun pointed at her.

His partner cuffs the woman and takes her away while Fournash goes inside.

I can see the body over here.

In a similar condo. Fournash shows us how he started going room to room. Because you wanted to make sure there was nobody else in this house, correct?

My heart pound. I don't know what's going on.

These crime scene pictures show what it was like. A cluttered two bedroom apartment, clearly a bachelor pad. Couches, chairs, a bookcase and a large tv. A second bedroom dedicated to just his neckties. And for that gun lover, an artillery vest. There's no one inside besides Ryan Poston.

So the body is like right in this area. The head is here.

He checks for a pulse. There is none. So there was no blood up here. Nothing? Nothing.

High four.

Nash calls for the coroner and heads back to the station where the woman is waiting in this interview room. It's the first time he learns her name. Shayna Hubers.

My name's Dave Pornash. I'm a sergeant.

Okay.

At the moment, he knows nothing about her or how she and Ryan were connected at all. That story begins about 90 miles down the highway at the University of Kentucky. Shayna was among the graduates of the class of 2012. A hometown Lexington girl, I've known her since second grade. Morgan Burroughs grew up near Shana. They went to the same high school.

She was very smart. Like really, really smart. A lot of people at school knew who she was. Like, everybody was like, oh, well, that's the girl that's got good grades and stuff. And really pretty. Like, everybody would always talk about how pretty she was.

Morgan says people considered her driven to succeed. A standout student in high school, Dean's list in college, now pursuing her master's in school counseling.

Ryan's cousin had known Shana from college and she had arranged the introduction.

Ryan's lifelong friend Brian Stewart had moved to New York, but remembers Ryan telling him about meeting Shana.

Ryan was certainly attracted to her, and I'm sure that the feeling was mutual.

Clearly she loved posting pictures of herself on instagram. But now she was only too eager to include Ryan. They were both smart and good looking, but there was one big difference. Their backgrounds. Shayna grew up here, a solid middle class neighborhood with some unmanicured lawns.

I think she would probably want something that looked was better than the neighborhood.

She was in, something perhaps like this. The bluegrass, horse farms, and blue blood heritage. Lexington is famous for a world of money and prestige, a world familiar to Ryan. But money can't buy you love.

He was in the rebound state.

Still, it was a few months after Ryan and longtime girlfriend Lauren Worley had broken up. She didn't know Shayna, but her old roommate, Emmy Reynold did. Do you think that she was just a gold digger? Thinking, you know what? Ryan's my ticket to a good life.

Actually, yes. I'm gonna get me a doctor or lawyer. That's who she wanted to date.

But as time went on, it wasn't clear if Ryan and Shayna actually were dating.

I don't know if he would tell you they were in a relationship.

I don't believe they were ever boyfriend girlfriend, ever. For instance, I don't remember Ryan ever coming to Lexington to see Shayna. You never saw pictures of that posted. Shayna liked to post her whole life on Facebook. And so you never really got the idea that he was making any effort whatsoever to be her boyfriend.

Ryan's friends say he lost interest rather quickly and tried to end things with Shayna, but she refused. How can he allow her to decide whether they're gonna break up or not?

He just wasn't able to. He was too nice. Didn't want to hurt her feelings.

He did feel duty bound to let her down easy, so easy.

The relationship continued on and off for more than a year, with Ryan and Shayna chronicling it all to friends on social media. Ryan being asked in one exchange, are you still dating what's her name? Shayna? Yeah. How's that going? It's okay. I'm pretty expletive stressed. I received 75 text messages from her. I am emotionally and mentally spent. I hope she leaves me alone. And Shayna confiding to a friend.

He says he's only with me because I make him feel so awful when I cry. My love has turned to hate.

But they're still together in October 2012. It's the night of the vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. We love to watch those debates. I absolutely love to watch that kind of stuff. Ryan was going to watch with his whole well to do family here in their stately brick home. What do you know about that night?

They were happy just to have Ryan come to dinner, even if Shayna was there as well.

If Shayna had any thoughts that getting this invitation for steak and asparagus meant a turn for the better, she was about to learn Ryan was ready to stick a fork in the relationship once and for all.

Ryan had approached his stepfather and, and indicated that the relationship wasn't going forward.

And he's got a new girl already lined up. Remember that date from the Milford Inn? He's due to meet her for the first time the very next night.

I have no doubt that this is what set her off. And she knew that she was losing him, and that would be final.

24 hours later, Ryan is dead.

A Highland Heights woman allegedly shot and killed her boyfriend. Shayna Hubers allegedly fired those. This is somebody who wanted him dead. It was like I was, it was out of body experience.

And Shayna is in the interrogation room, utterly ignoring her right to remain silent.

I gave him his nose dog he wanted. When I first saw the interrogation tapes of Shayna Hebers, I immediately thought of Jodi Arias.

Jodi Arias, the Arizona woman who shot her boyfriend, then stood on her head during a police interrogation. If you thought that tape was off the charts, wait till you see this. We'll be right back. It's Friday night in Highland Heights, Kentucky. Most of the town is out watching the high school Bluebirds football team extend their winning streak. Let's go. But five and a half miles away, police have found 29 year old attorney Ryan Poston lying dead in a pool of blood. Now a pretty 21 year old graduate student who admitted to pulling the trigger, is sitting in the interrogation hot seat. Inside the nondescript eight x eight room, a video camera rolls as Sergeant Dave Fornash reads Shayna hubers her Miranda rights.

Says, you have the right to remain silent.

So she said, I want an attorney.

I can't ask her any questions. Once she invokes the right to have.

An attorney, though, to complete his report, he asked for the victim's name. Okay, what was his name?

The man that I killed, Ryan Carter.

Posted the man that I killed, she.

Says, I was kind of stunned, and at that point, you know, she just started talking.

She talked and talked and talked. I killed him. She says. But with an explanation. It was self defense.

I honestly, like, shot the man in self defense, okay? He was throwing me around the room. Soon as it happened. It was surreal. It was like I was at. It was out of body experience. It was like, that was. That was not me. That was not me.

Okay? Sergeant Fournache leaves the room to process what he just heard. Meanwhile, Shayna becomes increasingly anxious. Look at her here, fidgeting, pacing, and drinking copious amounts of water. Eventually, another officer comes to keep her company. Once again, without being asked, Shana starts spouting, telling police what she says happened inside that apartment. A domestic dispute gone awry.

Picking me up and throwing me against the booksell. That's when he started screaming all the nasty things of the year. Everyone knows you're crazy.

Shayna says Ryan sat at this dining room table, glaring and screaming at her, all while playing with his Sig sour semi automatic handgun and ammo.

He's pulled it out, whipped it, and been like, what would you. What would you do if I shot you right now? What would you do if I. I was afraid.

Remember, Ryan was a gun enthusiast. His messy apartment full of paraphernalia, an artillery vest hanging next to his ties, bullets sharing a cabinet with board games. But then she goes on to paint Ryan as a pill popping zealot, habitually abusing prescription drugs like Adderall, Xanax, and ambience. Sure enough, there are vials of medication everywhere in the crime scene photos, right next to his bullets on the table.

He's been whacked on drugs for a long time. He's capable of anything.

Shayna starts to act it all out, saying, Ryan got up.

He wasn't completely standing up. He was like this.

But before he could strike, she says she grabbed his gun from the table and began shooting.

He fell onto the ground. He was, like, laying like this. His glasses were still on. He was twitching some more. I shot him a couple more times just to make sure he was dead, because I didn't want to watch him die.

She basically said she shot him, and then he was moaning and twitching, and she fired more times to put him out of his misery. Who does that? He was alive during all. Six shots, six slugs.

A mercy killing. She claims to put her bleeding boyfriend out of his misery. But then, an extraordinary remark.

Gary vain. One of our last conversations we had that was good, was that he wants to get a nose job. Just that kind of person. And I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job. He wanted.

Yeah, you heard that, right? But police chief Bill Birkenhauer couldn't believe his ears when you heard her say, I gave him that nose job he always wanted.

My jaw dropped. You know, I was like, did she just really say that?

It's important to note the cops don't ask her one single question because she's asked for that attorney. But that doesn't stop her from spewing.

She was just providing all kinds of details that were incriminating, and she knew that. And she just, for some reason, couldn't stop talking. It was amazing.

Hubers could not shut her pie hole. She could not be quiet.

But that was only the beginning of Shayna's bizarre behavior. Listen as she laughs, questioning her own sanity.

Am I crazy? I don't think you're crazy.

Asking a series of strange questions about life behind bars.

If you go to jail, are you allowed to keep your phone and you shower there, or do you just get really dirty? Do I have to shower in front of people? Oh. Oh, my God.

Musing out loud about love.

I don't know if anyone will ever want to marry me if they know that I killed a boyfriend in self. Not funny.

And then the would be school counselor worrying about her homework.

I have two papers in money that I have in front of me. I don't know if that's even gonna matter now. What her behavior in the interrogation room says to me is that there was no remorse whatsoever. None.

But it's when she is alone in that room that she is the most revealing. Listen. As she paces back and forth, muttering.

Yeah, I did. I cannot believe I did that.

Listen again. I did it. I did it.

I did it. Yes, I did.

At one point, she breaks out ballet moves and even starts singing amazing grace. What do you make of this?

It was a very bizarre thing. Her actions in that room didn't come off as somebody who had just killed somebody or been in a traumatic incident like that. I looked at it, and I thought a lot of it was staged. A lot of her actions and a lot of the things she did in there were staged.

I thought she was putting out an act.

That's what it appeared to me.

That was enough for sergeant four Nash. He comes back into the room.

Here's what's gonna happen right now, Shana, okay, with everything that we hear, um, we're gonna.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna have to charge you with murder.

What degree murder?

There's no degree.

And places her under arrest for the murder of Ryan poston. And remember what Shayna said about being thrown around in a struggle.

We took her into the other room to where we had a female officer photographer. There was no marks there.

No marks anywhere on her body.

Correct.

And just as Shayna herself predicted.

I'm gonna be talked about something.

The shooting immediately made big headlines that she shot her boyfriend in self defense.

A grand jury has indicted a northern.

Kentucky woman, young Kentucky woman accused of.

Brutally killing her boyfriend, shooting him six times, and then boasting that she, quote, gave him the nose job he always wanted.

When we come back, Shayna moves from the interrogation room to the courtroom.

I'm Shayna Hubers.

Where her self defense claim might actually get traction with the jury.

It is more likely that a jury will buy that defense if the defendant.

Is a woman and five of the jurors are women. Stay with us.

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Shayna Hubers has been charged with murder after admitting she shot Ryan Poston. Among the most damning pieces of evidence, Shayna's bizarre behavior during her interrogation. Now, as Gio Benitez reports, jurors are about to see that interrogation for themselves and decide her fate.

It's setting up to be the trial of the year in northern Kentucky, the.

Case of accused murderer Shayna Hubers.

Brian Poston was shot six times, shooting him in the face.

Was it murder or self defense?

It was an amazing situation, amazing case that kind of captivated the whole area.

Shayna Hubers, finally getting her day in court after spending over two years waiting in jail. She had been in this courtroom before. Months earlier, she'd made a case for bail, taking the unusual tact of testifying at this bond hearing on her own behalf.

I'm Shayna Heavers.

Do you recall your emotional state?

I was horribly traumatized, upset and shocked.

And what did you believe would happen if you hadn't grabbed that gun first?

I believe that I would have been hurt, that I would have been shot.

Demure enough in her glasses and jailhouse stripes. Her image a sharp contrast to her former life.

You wouldn't say anything to this court to get yourself out of jail.

Prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass pounces, calling her a flight risk.

You talked about changing your hair, burning off your fingerprints, phone calls that you have made to your mother where you said, if I see a door open in here, I'm running. It's been almost two years. I don't remember every phone call I've had with my mother.

I think she is worse than flight bail denies.

All right, we are on the record.

On commonwealth versus Shayna Hubers today. Shayna is before that judge again on trial for murder.

That's the murderer sitting at the table.

Would a jury buy her claim of.

Self defense going into the trial? Shana Hebers had something very important going for her, and that is we are all now very, very aware of domestic abuse.

Walking into this courtroom, did you ever think, we've got this?

There's no such thing as a slam dunk case.

Maybe so in his shirt. But Snodgrass must know you have more than an outside shot when your suspect acts like Joe Diarrius. What do you think was the pivotal sort of testimony in that courtroom?

Probably the most important thing was that two and a half hour video. I think that speaks not just her words, but her actions.

She lets the jurors hear Shaynas own version of the shooting, especially that callous comment about the nose job and wants.

To get a nose job, just that kind of person. And I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job.

It was the phrase that made the case notorious. Just google Shayna hubers and up pops the nose job murder.

I didnt say those words. She did.

I finally gave him his nose job. What did you think about that?

I think that one statement summed up her attitude. There was no sign of remorse. There was no sign of empathy whatsoever. It was all about her, and she didn't want to watch him die. That was hard to hear. I think it was very hard for the family to hear.

To prove how heartless the former honor student seemed, the prosecution brings up three women, cellmates who spent time with Shayna in jail and say Shayna laughed about the murder and admitted Ryan Poston never hurt her.

She was trying to make people believe that he was abusive to her. She would throw furniture around to make it seem like there was a fight. And when did she say it really happened, that she was the aggressor in the fight?

I don't believe there was any kind of struggle.

Highland Heights police chief Bill Birkenhauer was the lead detective on the case.

If somebody was thrown through that living room, something would have been knocked over. There was a couple chairs. There was an exercise bike. There was a coffee table, the tv, which was a big screen tv, sitting on a, on a stand was not disturbed.

My shoulder hurt, he says.

Shayna didn't have any bruises that night, but Ryan had quite a lot of something the prosecution claimed is much more significant.

And how many Facebook messages did he have?

Almost like a voice from beyond the grave. Ryan posted his own texts and Facebook posts, tens of thousands of them.

I would say there was 50,000 pages.

You looked through each and every one of those messages, didn't you?

I did. All the text messages together told me that, you know, Ryan Poston did not want to be in a relationship with Shana Hubers.

Ryan texting a friend. I received 75 text messages from her. I am emotionally and mentally spent. I hope she leaves me alone. Add Shaynas messages and the prosecution says the picture is very clear.

He says he is only with me because I make him feel so awful when I cry. My love has turned to hate.

Crucial message of all, one Shayna sent to her close friend Christy Oiler. A seemingly incriminating message when Shayna and Ryan were going to a shooting range together.

When I go to the shooting range with Brian tonight, I want to turn around and shoot and kill him and play like it's an accident. I wish I would have paid more attention to it.

That right there stunned everybody that was watching this trial.

I think a lot of people, and the defense especially wanted to play that off as a joke. It's just not funny, especially in light of what happened just a short time later.

The prosecution says it was not long after that that Shayna finds out about that date with a beauty pageant winner.

When things didn't go her way.

It was not good. Do you believe she went there that night thinking she was going to kill him?

I think the defendant had thought about killing him before, and I think she was waiting for her opportunity.

They tell the jury Shayna, the jilted lover, picks up one of Ryan's four loaded guns that night at his condo and kills him in a jealous rage.

She killed him in cold blood, and I'm asking you to find her guilty of murder.

But now it's Shane turn. She acted in self protection, asserting self defense. The same story as when Shayna first called 911, her words repeatedly and over.

He could have grabbed me. He could have hurt me.

Defense attorney David Mejia says the couple was arguing and that Shayna shot Ryan after they both grabbed at that gun that was laying on the table.

If you would have gotten the gun, it would have been me and not him. All right, you may call your first.

I've got to hand it to the defense. They tried a tactic that in the past has been tried and true. When all else fails, bring on the defendant's mother. I was frightened for Shayna.

Shayna's mother, Sharon, testifies about a frantic call from Shayna in the wee hours of the morning before the shooting.

She was in pain. There was fear in her voice.

She says Shayna was distraught, calling from Ryan's condo. So Sharon Hubers drives to the condo to get her daughter.

I tried to get her to leave.

With me and come home, but Shayna won't go with her. She insists she wants to stay and work things out with Ryan.

It showed that Shayna Hubers was not afraid to stay at Ryan postons. She went back.

The next night, Shayna is back at Ryan's again when her mother gets an even more disturbing call.

She was hysterical, terrified.

This time, Shayna tells her she's just shot Ryan.

She was a mess.

It's Sharon that tells her daughter to call 911. And so she does.

Ma'am, I killed my boyfriend and son.

Is a person who shoots somebody intentionally without justification going to call the police with this kind of speed?

The defense suggests Shayna's story is believable. Remember those drugs found at the crime scene? The defense argues they could have sent him into a rage and that he had a violent side. Remember that Facebook message during his lawsuit with his former partner?

I want this piece of destroyed. Bury him neck deep at low tide. Throw darts at his head. Wait for high tide to roll in so I can stomp on his head while he's drowning.

Ryan Poston is six 3230. She is 5658, 110 pounds.

Mejia says there's plenty of reasonable doubt.

Emptying the cliff into somebody against whom has threatened violence against you, who is going to grab a gun to shoot you in your belief was absolutely justified by under the law.

But unlike the bond hearing, I'm Shayna Hubers. Shayna herself never takes the stand in trial.

You know what? Shana Hubers, wherever she is, I did her justice.

Her lawyer knows he only had has to convince one juror. Did he?

The police do not determine guilt or innocence.

You do. We had to decide. Was she under extreme emotional distress or was it just something that she did?

But what was the secret one juror was keeping that could make the whole case collapse? Stay with us. It's nearly midnight in Newport, Kentucky. In this town, the only thing usually open at that hour is the pepper pod diner. But on this night, a light is shining inside Campbell county courtroom number two council.

Both parties are present as our misuse.

After nine intense days of grueling testimony, the fate of now 24 year old Shayna Hubers, accused of murdering her ex boyfriend, Ryan Poston, is now in the hands of seven men and five women. All right, Mister Foreman.

As the jury reached the verdict.

We have an honor. After just 5 hours of deliberations, a midnight verdict is in.

We, the jury, find the defendant, Shayna Hubers, guilty of murder.

Under instruction number three, Shayna Hubers, guilty of murder. The courtroom overcome with emotion.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to excuse you for the evening.

As for Shayna, the former honor student once seen dancing in that interrogation room, now sitting motionless in stunned silence while Ryan's family hugs emotionally, Shayna's mom quickly slips out of the courtroom, unseen by cameras. Laura Kirkwood was on that jury and says convicting Shayna was a no brainer.

At no point did I buy the battered girlfriend defense.

But guilt is only step one. What's left is sentencing in Kentucky. The jury also recommends the punishment she faces up to life in prison. So the next morning, they are back at it again, jurors hearing final testimony to help them determine Shayna's fate.

Miss Carter, would you raise your right hand?

Ryan's sister, Katie Carter, takes the stand, recounting the moment when she found out her big brother had died.

Can I say it's not true? It's not true.

Katie describes how in the two years since his death, her family's life has changed.

It made us complete. And without him, there is always a chair that's gonna be empty. He will never be able to have all the things that he deserved to have in his life.

Katie walks off the stand and into the loving embrace of Ryan's two other sisters. Meanwhile, Shayna Huber, sitting on the other side of the courtroom, remains reactionless.

Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we'll hear closing statements.

Shayna's attorney, David Mejia, makes a final push for the jury to give her the statutory minimum of 20 years.

Shayna Hubers called the police. Shana Hubers cooperated with law enforcement.

He cites her so called honesty during that infamous police video. Lack of criminal history, not even a parking ticket. And her young age.

There must be a belief in the potential for maturity, the potential for reformation.

Can I have just a minute?

You may, Miss Snodgrass.

But prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass has some theater for her closing argument. A prop that stained dining room chair from Ryan's apartment meant to pull on the heartstrings of the jury.

The empty chair. Decay, Carter said, will never be filled again. Nothing will ever make it right.

She reminds jurors of the six shots Shayna fired at Ryan.

I think everybody agreed that Ryan Coaston was alive for each of the six shots. I bet there was suffering, I bet there was pain, and I bet there was torture.

As Snodgrass wraps her closing argument, she asks for life.

I think the life sentence is appropriate.

And Shayna Hughes, maybe for the first time, looks concerned. After deliberating for only an hour, the jury is back in the courtroom, ready to recommend their sentence.

We, the jury, fix the defendant, Shana Hubers, punishment for the offense of murder at 40 years confinement in the penitentiary.

Life was too long that possibly, maybe if she's rehabilitated, she could do some good. When she gets even with a 40 year sentence, she's likely to get out in just 20 years. It doesn't seem quite right, does it?

The judge will have the final word. Four months later, Shayna returns to court in prison stripes for the formal sentence. It's her last chance to try to influence her fate. And she decides to speak.

I was with someone who was not who I thought I was with. I was in a relationship. That is not what I thought it was.

Her testimony is a shock.

I was a 19 year old innocent little girl compared to a 28 year old man who had no business even talking to me. No business. And it makes me sick looking back on it.

She makes nasty remarks about her victim.

I feel like I was led on. I feel like I was manipulated, used and abused.

And only at the last minute, standing at the defense table, does she even attempt an apology.

And I'm sorry for any hardship I've caused other people.

But the judge is unmoved.

It's probably as cold blooded an act as I've been associated with in the criminal justice system in the 30 plus.

Years I've been in it. The sentence will be just what the jury wanted.

I think 40 years is more than appropriate, and I think that's the same.

Or will it? After all that? Now there is this.

Will there be a retrial in one of the tri state's highest profile murder trials?

Most of the time, the arguments the defendants make after the fact tend to be grasping at straws. This claim is different. I have in my hand the motion. The defense makes a shocking discovery. During jury selection, one of the jurors failed to disclose a key piece of information. He's a convicted felon. The juror says years ago he fell behind on his child support and thought it was a misdemeanor, not a felony. But still not revealing it violates Kentucky law. And Hubers asks the judge to declare a mistrial. That motion is granted. Shayna Hubers will get a new trial and another shot at freedom. But for Ryan Poston's family and friends, there is no second chance. For Brian Stewart, it's the loss of a childhood friend.

Ryan was my best friend, and I'm convinced that he is the best man I shall ever know.

And then there's Lauren, for whom Ryan was the love of her life, the one that got away, and who now faces a lifetime of regret.

I was so close to it. I was right there. I wish I would have known or paid attention, you know, because I feel like I might have been able to stop it. And I loved Ryan. I still love Ryan. He's my lover in the clouds. This is Deborah Roberts with an update to this story. Shayna Hubers was granted a new trial, and in August of 2018, she was once again found guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison. So far, she's been unsuccessful in appealing her conviction. Thanks for listening to this edition of the 2020 true Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us on Friday nights at nine on ABC for all new broadcast episodes of 2020.