Jury finds Shayna Hubers guilty of murder

NEWPORT – The trial took nine days, but it took a Campbell County jury just under five hours to find Shayna Hubers guilty of murder.

The graduate student shot her boyfriend, attorney Ryan Poston, six times in the dining room of his Highland Heights condominium the night of Friday, Oct. 12, 2012.

Sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday. The Poston and Carter families released a joint statement to The Enquirer early Friday morning via spokesman Pat Crowley.

"The senselessness of this action is a tragedy for all families – both Ryan's and his assailant's," the statement read. "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."

Scroll to the bottom of the page to read the statement in its entirety.

The jury was able to consider murder, first degree manslaughter, second degree manslaughter and reckless homicide. The legal distinction between murder and first-degree manslaughter focuses on intent and whether a person was acting under an "extreme emtotional disturbance for which there was a reasonable explanation or excuse."

Hubers called 911 at 8:53 p.m. to say she shot Poston in self-defense after he verbally and physically abused her. She later told police she shot him once, and then shot him again to stop his body from twitching.

Poston was shot six times with his own handgun, a Sig Sauer 380: twice in the head, once in the back and three times in the torso. Medical experts could not determine which was the fatal shot, but said he was alive for all six.

Investigators believe Poston was sitting in a dining table chair when Hubers shot him from across the table. The defense argued he was standing next to the table and Hubers shot him from the floor.

Hubers, then 21, and Poston, 29, had been involved in an off-and-on relationship for about a year prior to the shooting. A mountain of text messages exchanged between the couple showed that Hubers was more attached to Poston than he was to her, and he wanted to break the relationship off without hurting her.

The couple argued the night before he died, after returning to the condo following dinner with Poston's mother and stepfather. His stepfather, Peter Carter, testified he advised Poston to be honest, but gentle, in telling Hubers he wanted to end things and had a date with Miss Ohio 2012 on Friday, the night he died.

Hubers sat calmly between her two attorneys each day of the trial, betraying little emotion as prosecutors painted her as obsessed with Poston and unwilling to let him go.

Occasionally, she smiled at family and friends and mouthed hello to them after court adjourned for the day. Her mother tesified in her defense, and her father, Robert, sat in the courtroom each day along with a dozen or two family and friends.

Dozens of Poston's family and friends filled the left side of the courtroom each day, sitting next to the jury box and crying when photographs of his lifeless body appeared on a TV screen for jurors to view.

Hubers has been jailed at the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, just blocks from the courthouse, since the night of the shooting and will remain there until she is sentenced.

The trial began Monday, April 13 in Campbell Circuit Court, with Judge Fred A. Stine, a 10-year veteran of the bench, presiding.

Stine ran a tight ship where media was concerned, allowing just one television camera and one photojournalist inside the courtroom. Stine also banned live broadcasting of the trial and on several occasions, met with journalists to remind them not to post live testimony on social media. More than a dozen journalists attend the trial each day, including a team from CBS News 48 Hours in New York.

Complete statement from the Poston and Carter families:

"On October 12, 2012, Ryan Carter Poston, our loving son, brother, grandson and friend was brutally murdered and snatched from our lives. The senselessness of this action is a tragedy for all families – both Ryan's and his assailant's. 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. Twelve hardworking Americans have listened to the legal arguments, reviewed the facts, deliberated, and discerned the truth. Ryan's good name is now fully vindicated and the person responsible for this brutal act is now held accountable. We thank them for their service, insight, and leadership.

"We are also eternally grateful for the unwavering and resolute efforts of the Commonwealth Attorney's office and Highland Heights Police Department. They passionately and objectively sought the truth and proved themselves as true guardians of our safety and security once again.

"Lastly, we would like to thank those who have extended their thoughts and prayers to the Poston and Carter families, please know they were received graciously and gratefully and hold a value that can not possibly be measured.

"May God forever bless our beloved Ryan."