Jesse Weber (00:01):
On prime crime, dead man, he's completely dead. A young life is cut short.

(00:07):
She shot twice. Close the gap and shot four more times.

(00:12):
But the question of why.

(00:14):
 "Ryan always put pressure on me to orgasm,"

(00:16):
is not so simple to answer.

Shana Hubers (00:19):
I'm right here. I gave him his nose job he wanted.

Jesse Weber (00:30):
Hi there everybody. I'm Jesse Weber and welcome to Prime Crime. This is where we break down the most high profile and memorable true crime cases. A young couple's relationship comes to a lethal end and it's the police interrogation tape that leaves everyone asking Why did this happen? October 12th, 2012, Highland Heights, Kentucky, the man you're seeing is Ryan Poston, a 29 year old lawyer who had plans to go out that night, but as you're about to see, that never happened. KE County 9 1 1. Ma'am, I killed my boyfriend in south of bed. That is 21 year old grad student, Shana Hubers, postin on again, off again, girlfriend, my children her south of seventh. Okay, I'm completely dead. How long ago did you shoot him? 10 or 15 minutes ago. Were they going to arrest me? I don't know what they'll do. I mean I'm not a murderer. Later on that night, Hubers is brought into a room at police headquarters. I do the right thing.

Officer (01:31):
I don't know what's going on.

(01:34):
Can I talk to you?

Jesse Weber (01:36):
Even without an attorney present, Hubers decided to just open up to the various officers that came into the room.

Katherine Smith (01:42):
I think that there are two different ways to look at that. Number one, you could say that that's something that an innocent person would do because they want to explain the situation and have the police better understand why they're sitting in that room before them or it can be looked at that she thinks that she's smarter than all the investigators.

Shana Hubers (02:01):
I shot him in Self-defense because he's done stuff before where I put my head on a headboard and could Die.

Jesse Weber (02:06):
 Hubers lays out the details of the shooting.

Shana Hubers (02:09):
He was physically violent with me and threw me around the room into the dining room, all the way into the living room, back into the dining room. I knew he was going to hit me again or throw me or something again, and there was a gun laying right there and I knew what the next thing might've been, and I picked up the gun in the middle of him doing something with his arm or saying something crazy and shot him.

Katherine Smith (02:36):
When there's a couple where one person largely outweighs the other that if there is some sort of abuse that weapons must or can be used to overcome that fear of death and imminent harm be so much bigger than me,

Shana Hubers (02:53):
That him hitting me versus me hitting him is not really even fight. He's pulled guns on me as jokes before and I think that was in mind.

Lisa Lockwood (03:04):
It was commonplace for Ryan to have guns, ammunition, strewn about his house in all different areas. He was a gun advocate.

Shana Hubers (03:13):
And what would you do if I shot you right now, what would you do if I was afraid?

Jesse Weber (03:20):
However, there are some issues with Huber's account.

Shana Hubers (03:23):
You can see from the living room. That's not how it happened. If you walk in there, things thrown, it doesn't look right. It's a disarray.

Lisa Lockwood (03:32):
The crime scene shows us there are no disturbances in the living room that would prove that any kind of knockout drag out fight even occurred. The coffee table, the kitchen table were covered with items. Nothing was knocked over and the TV that she claimed she was shoved into had layers of dust on it and nothing was disturbed.

Shana Hubers (03:50):
When I shot in the face and he could put his arm across the table and had it in my face, wasn't completely standing up. He was like this.

Lisa Lockwood (04:02):
The shell casings that were found in the home, two were in one area, four in another, but all in close approximation. What it showed is that she shot twice, closed the gap and shot four more times.

Shana Hubers (04:14):
He was laying with his face on the table twitching. I knew he was going to die a very slow and painful death, so I shot him enough times to kill him so that he wouldn't suffer. Thought he was completely dead and he was laying there still twitching and making noises and I thought him in the head.

Lisa Lockwood (04:41):
Shooting somebody initially in the head is an example of somebody who wants somebody dead. Otherwise self-defense would be shooting as fast as you can and then leaving the scene, which he had ample opportunity to do.

Shana Hubers (04:54):
I killed him in a mechanism of self-defense or shot him in a mechanism of self-defense and then knew he was going to die. So put him out of the misery,

Dr. John DeLatorre (05:07):
Shot him multiple times to put him out of his misery. As a curious statement, it's a hard enough thing to do to just kill someone. It's a hard thing to do to pull the trigger and shoot someone potentially being something that is more nefarious, more sort of evil than perhaps it actually was. Do I think she was trying to put him out of his misery? I think she thinks she was trying to put him out of his misery.

Shana Hubers (05:32):
I picked up the phone and called my mother and said, mama, what did I do? And she said, you call the cops Shayna. You got to call a cop.

Lisa Lockwood (05:47):
The fact that she did call her mother and call nine one one ten to 15 minutes after the incident, she wanted to ensure that Ryan was dead.

Shana Hubers (05:56):
I don't go to prison. I don't think I deserve you.

Jesse Weber (06:01):
As you'll see though, this case isn't open and shut.

Lisa Lockwood (06:06):
I've learned that a person's inability to have any kind of remorse or empathy or dealing with some kind of mental health issue.

Shayna Hubers (06:21):
I can only imagine what's going through these people's heads. I feel like everyone knows me well enough know that I didn't just fought and kill a dude.

Jesse Weber (06:30):
In 2012 out in Kentucky, 21 year old Shayna Hubers is telling police the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of her boyfriend, 29 year old Ryan Postin.

Shayna Hubers (06:41):
It wasn't killing him because I was spiteful. It wasn't killing him because I'm done with the relationship. It was you're evil and you've been thrown me around the room like a rag doll.

Jesse Weber (06:52):
She claimed post and got physical with her that night and she killed him to save her life.

Shayna Hubers (06:58):
One blow and he could kill me. The divorce came to worst. I'm rather he's dead than I'm hurt because I could have been really badly hurt.

Jesse Weber (07:07):
But as she goes on, certain aspects of the story are peculiar. Like how many times she shot him.

Shayna Hubers (07:14):
I shot it once and didn't shoot again for a while, but I was watching him die. It was so painful to watch him die. I walked around the table and shot him where I knew he would die immediately. I shot him probably six times

Jesse Weber (07:35):
And despite Hubers describing a chaotic fight,

Shayna Hubers (07:38):
You can't throw somebody into the ground. I probably have a rug burn. I probably do have some bruises.

(07:47):
There was no evidence of injuries and the crime scene wasn't in disarray, but Hubers displays other odd behavior when alone in the interview room such as dancing, singing, and seemingly boasting.

(08:09):
I did. Yes I did. I cannot believe I did.

Lisa Lockwood (08:14):
That lack of remorse, the lack of empathy. Again, she's showing she's in a place of complete self-preservation.

Shayna Hubers (08:20):
Do you think they're going to take me to jail? Okay, well, here's a good question. I had to go to jail. Can you shower there? I have to shower in front of people. Oh shit, I dunno. Oh my God,

Dr. John DeLatorre (08:35):
 Is it indicative of no remorse? It's certainly possible, but I think that there's an alternative. I don't think she's that sophisticated in her thinking, somewhat childlike that these were kinds of behaviors that she was doing as self-soothing, keep her distracted from what's going on internally. I dunno. Dunno if anyone will ever want to marry me if I kill my boyfriend and help.

Lisa Lockwood (09:04):
Not funny, but Shayna's fixation out on how others will perceive her for killing. Ryan is yet another example of her inability to place herself in Ryan's shoes and even the members of his family who she had grown to know, I can't even imagine what people are going to say about me.

Shayna Hubers (09:25):
I'm going to have A lot of enemies.

Jesse Weber (09:29):
 Yet there may be something a lot deeper happening here.

Dr. John DeLatorre (09:32):
When I'm looking at Shana right now, I am seeing someone who is suffering from borderline personality disorder symptoms, issues with her own identity, issues with relationships, can't manage her emotions,

Jesse Weber (09:46):
And that leads to one of the most shocking comments Hubers made. I couldn't

Shayna Hubers (09:51):
Stand to watch him twitch. I knew he was going to die or have a completely deformed face. He's very vain and wants to get a nose job and I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job. He wanted

Katherine Smith (10:02):
The fact that she was making jokes about maiming and killing an individual who she claims that she loved just showed how disconnected she really was, perhaps pathologically from the acts that she did.

Jesse Weber (10:18):
When we return, we'll get into more of the backstory between Ryan and Shayna that may provide a further explanation of what happened behind closed doors.

Shayna Hubers (10:28):
Ms. Ti, I'll just cut to the chase. Did you go to meet Ryan? He didn't. And did you ever hear from Ryan again? No, I'm not. You're typical. He said You're just a hillbilly from Kentucky and I, if the hillbilly came out of me

Jesse Weber (10:54):
In October, 2012, 21 year old Kentucky woman, Shana Hubers is recounting to law enforcement how she shot and killed her 29 year old boyfriend, Ryan Poston in what she claims was self-defense. I feel really bad about it because I really loved him, but he was so abusive to me. As the interview progresses, Shayna begins to show a deeper lack of remorse. I could be

Shayna Hubers (11:18):
Sitting here like, oh, I hope Ryan's family doesn't hate me. He just hurts. He deserved it. Is there a possibility that she viewed her life as being endangered? It's certainly possible, but I think for her it was more that she wasn't getting what she needed out of the relationship and that made her angry, which is one of the common issues and common complaints of someone with borderline personality disorder is that they cannot seem to manage their own emotions, and he had put his arm across the table and had it in my face

(11:52):
And was screaming at me at the top of his lungs, I hate your Eastern Kentucky accident. I hate everything about you for what you are.

Jesse Weber (12:07):
The investigation would show that Ryan and Shayna had a toxic relationship.

Katherine Smith (12:12):
It appears that this was a classic tumultuous relationship, but it did seem from the evidence more one-sided, meaning he was trying to get out of the relationship and trying to end the relationship where she was continually invested in the relationship, showing up unannounced. The sheer volume of communication between the two was troubling. There was approximately 50,000 text messages, approximately 20,000 social media communications and thousands of photographs, and it was largely initiated by her.

Jesse Weber (12:47):
In fact, the night that Shayna killed Ryan, the young attorney had a date With who? Miss Ohio.

AUDREY BOLTE (12:55):
We became connected on Facebook.

Prosecuting Attourney (12:58):
How long would you say you all were messaging via Facebook?

AUDREY BOLTE (13:01):
Say just a few days.

Prosecuting Attourney (13:02):
How did he strike you?

AUDREY BOLTE (13:04):
Funny, funny and smart.

Prosecuting Attourney (13:06):
Where did you all agree to meet?

AUDREY BOLTE (13:08):
We agreed to meet at a gas station that was nearby at first, and then I didn't hear from him, and so I just went to the place to kind of see if maybe it was bad communication and I kind of looked around a little bit, but he wasn't there.

Prosecuting Attourney (13:22):
Did you wait? Yeah. Did Ryan ever show? No. And did you ever hear from

(13:26):
Ryan again?

Dr. John DeLatorre (13:27):
No. I don't think Ryan was ever in the relationship the way Shayna would have wanted him to be. Throughout their entire time together. Ryan probably always had one foot out the door. I'm not surprised that he had a date that night and I think that it might have been something that kind of prompted Shayna to engage in the act that she probably wouldn't have done otherwise.

Shayna Hubers (13:48):
I was like begging him to stay in the relationship and be with me, but you get to the point where you had enough.

Lisa Lockwood (13:58):
Shana does seem to believe that she's justified in murdering him because she was angry and she just could not take being dumped and moving on and that was her complete revenge was that if I can't have him, nobody will.

Officer (14:15):
Here's what's going to happen right now, Shana. Okay. With everything that we have, we're going to, I'm going to charge. I'm going to have to Charge you with murder.

Jesse Weber (14:21):
 Shana Hubers was arrested and charged with the murder of Ryan Poston, but here's where the story takes a while. Detour. In 2015, Hubers went to trial. She was convicted by a jury of her peers and sentenced to 40 years in prison. Yet that verdict was overturned.

Katherine Smith (14:41):
Her conviction was overturned because juror 4 99 did not disclose that they had a felony conviction and in Kentucky a felony conviction precludes juror service.

Jesse Weber (14:54):
Now, Hubers had a second chance at freedom and her new defense team went forward with a different strategy.

Katherine Smith (15:01):
She lost the initial trial because of number one. Her only form of defense was self-defense. She hadn't introduced the extreme emotional disturbance angle until the second trial.

Shayna Hubers (15:13):
I couldn't take

Katherine Smith (15:14):
It anymore. Extreme emotional disturbance is shown by the defense when the individual becomes so enraged or upset that their judgment and their ability to act is clouded due to this extreme emotional disturbance.

Jesse Weber (15:30):
Up next, will this jury convict hubers of murder.

Shayna Hubers (15:34):
When he was first shot, he let out a really loud noise that sounded like an animal. It sounded like a bear.

(15:46):
If someone else was in the room and they watched it go down, they would've been good for her.

Jesse Weber (15:55):
In 2018, Kentucky woman, Shayna Hubers heads to trial for a second time for the murder of her boyfriend, Ryan Poston, who she shot to death in his apartment after what she says was a violent encounter. While a jury had previously convicted Hubers, that verdict was thrown out due to juror misconduct. Now in her retrial. Instead of relying solely on self-defense, her team focused more on an alternative defense. That Shayna acted due to an extreme emotional disturbance.

Shayna Hubers (16:26):
I was hysterically crying and I recall Ryan standing over me and grabbing the gun that was sitting on the table and pointing it at me and saying, I could just kill you right now.

Jesse Weber (16:41):
In order to understand the circumstances of that night, Hubers first explained both the trauma in her life. I was sexually

Shayna Hubers (16:48):
Assaulted in the restroom by a stranger,

Jesse Weber (16:52):
And what she claimed was mistreatment and abuse at the hands of poston.

Shayna Hubers (16:56):
I feared him. I felt like I needed to do what he Was telling me to do.

Katherine Smith (17:01):
One of the good arguments from extreme emotional disturbance was this perceived abuse that she had discussed, that she was put down insulted, that he had continually broken up with her and that she felt continually rejected.

Shayna Hubers (17:16):
Ryan always put pressure on me to orgasm. He put pressure on me to get breast implants. He felt like my lack of or my inability to orgasm was due to psychological trauma from my past. The sax became rough. Ryan did something I didn't want him to

Jesse Weber (17:40):
Do, and this all came to a head on the night of the shooting,

Shana Hubers (17:44):
And he picked me up from an awkward angle and threw me from the doorway. He screamed at me. You're a up person and you're a person because you were touched when you were a little girl and that's why you can't orgasm, and that's why I can't love you and that's why Noah will ever be able to love you. Standing up from the chair and he was reaching across the table and I don't know if he was reaching for the gun or reaching for me, and I got up off the floor and I grabbed the gun and I shot him.

(18:18):
defendant suggesting extreme emotional disturbance. I could see where they're coming from given the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder. What they're saying is that in the heat of this moment, something was going on that led me to thinking things that I wouldn't have thought otherwise. I couldn't think of the right thing to do at that moment.

Jesse Weber (18:38):
The prosecution though said what Shayna did was a cold, deliberate and unjustified killing.

Prosecuting Attourney (18:44):
On that night, Shana Hubers murdered Ryan Poston not out of self-defense, not because she wasn't in control, but because she was not going to allow him to reject her and move on to be with someone else.

Lisa Lockwood (19:03):
The fact that Shayna fired at his face showed that she wanted him dead, continued shooting is what we call intentional overkill, and plus we already know that she had a plan of killing him and pretending like it was an accident. When she texted a friend earlier that week,

Prosecuting Attourney (19:19):
To whom Ms. Huber sent this message to

Dr. Christie Oyler (19:22):
Myself, to me, when I go to the shooting range with Ryan tonight, I want

(19:26):
To turn

(19:27):
Around to shoot and kill him and play Like it's an accident.

Katherine Smith (19:30):
 Interestingly, the statements that the defendant used on the 9 1 1 tape and when she was speaking with officers were really the worst things against her. He was

Shayna Hubers (19:38):
Twisting and I knew he was going to die anyway. He was making funny noise that I saw her a couple more times. I hate him the way that he's to me. But The thing that he was doing.

Katherine Smith (19:48):
 this extreme reaction to this abandonment could really send someone over edge. That said, there's a real disconnect between that emotional reaction and murder.

TRIAL JUDGE (20:02):
Has the jury

(20:03):
Breached a verdict?

(20:03):
 Yes, sir.

(20:04):
Is what you have the jury's verdict

(20:08):
In your hand?

(20:08):
Yes.

(20:09):
We the jury find the defendant Shayna Hubers guilty of murder under instruction number five,

Jesse Weber (20:17):
Despite a different defense strategy. Going to trial for a second time was a risk that ultimately didn't pay off because not only was Hubers convicted, again, unlike the jury in her first trial that recommended 40 years in prison, this panel had other ideas.

TRIAL JUDGE (20:34):
We the jury fixed the defendant Shauna Huber's punishment for the offensive murder at life imprisonment.

Jesse Weber (20:43):
This doesn't necessarily mean that the 27 year old will spend the rest of her life behind bars. Hubers is eligible for parole in 2032.

Lisa Lockwood (20:53):
When you're looking at the parole board, they take some factors into the case. Had the person gotten educated while they were in jail? Are they reformed 20 years from now? We don't know how Shayna is going to evolve in the prison system. Personally, I don't think she deserves. She took Ryan's life. When somebody takes somebody's life intentionally, they should serve a life in prison without any opportunity to be released.

Ryan Poston's Dad (21:18):
Ryan was in law school at the time and he came to me and he hands me this paper. It was a form to change his name. Sorry. He changed his name because he said, dad, this is who I am, Ryan Carter Poston, and I wanted you to know that. And I said, great. You don't have to do this for me though. This is for you. And so that's what he did. That's just how we raised him.

Jesse Weber (21:55):
The death of Ryan Poston is senseless. It is tragic, and it's just overall incredibly sad. Whether Shayna Hubers is ever paroled, it won't change what she did or what she said. She'll always have to live with that. And for someone who seemingly was so concerned with how the world would see her, for many, they'll only view her as one thing, a murderer. That's all we have for you here on prime crime. As always, thanks for joining us and until next time, stay safe.