Jury recommends life term in retrial for woman convicted of ex-boyfriend's brutal murder

A jury on Wednesday recommended a life sentence for Kentucky woman Shayna Hubers one day after she was convicted of murder in a retrial of her ex-boyfriend's brutal death.

Hubers, 27, was found guilty on Tuesday of murder for the second time, Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO reported. This suggestion comes more than five years after she allegedly shot and killed her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Ryan Carter Poston, after he apparently tried breaking up with her. Her first trial, which occurred three years ago, garnered national attention.

The judge will have the final say over the length of the sentence after a pre-sentencing hearing on Oct. 18, according to WCPO.

Poston, a 29-year-old lawyer, was found dead in his home in Highland Heights, Kentucky, which is northeast of Louisville, in October 2012. Hubers claimed Poston was abusive and that she shot him in self-defense, but the jury didn’t believe her.

During an emotional sentencing hearing, the jury heard from family members of Poston and a friend of Hubers'. Hubers' attorney asked for a 20-year sentence — 20 years shorter than the sentence she had received after the first trial.

After the jury found Hubers guilty on Tuesday, Poston's family said it was "eternally grateful" to the officers who helped them achieve justice after “six long and heartbreaking years.”

"Those who love Ryan now move forward with the integrity, dignity and kindness that Ryan exemplified throughout his life," the family said in a statement Tuesday. "Today we embrace justice, and yet we do not feel joy. It has been six long and heartbreaking years without our beloved Ryan.”

Evidence, including bizarre video of Hubers dancing and celebrating in an interrogation room just hours after the shooting, led to her conviction in 2015, but the verdict was overturned after it was revealed that a jury member was a felon. Hubers was originally sentenced to 40 years in prison, but she was granted a retrial.

Hubers once told police officers that Poston was abusive and claimed she shot him in self-defense. Prosecutors used her own words to build their case.

“He’s very vain. One of our last conversations we had that was good was that he wants to get a nose job,” Hubers told police in a recorded conversation. “And I shot him right here. I gave him his nose job he wanted. I broke it.”

Her attorney, David Eldridge, said Poston had physically abused Hubers and made her fear for her life.

"He was grabbing her hair, jerking her head back and forth like she thought her neck was going to snap," Eldridge said in court, according to WCPO. "The commonwealth has been unable to accept the truth about Mr. Poston. They don't want you to see the whole picture of Mr. Poston and Ms. Hubers.”