it was the case that had the country glued. >> from happy couple to the so-called nose job murder. >> but tonight, a shocking twist that could turn the so-called nose job murder on its ear. >> this is an unusual claim. and not a frivolous one. >> it all began on a dark night in northern kentucky. a handsome young lawyer found dead. a 911 call has just come in. >> i'm standing about ten feet from his dead body. >> what's the first thing you're told about this? >> we have a murder. >> police on the scene within minutes. >> i can see the body. your heart's pounding right now? >> yes, it's beating really fast. i don't know what's going on. >> inside a

dining room becomes a crime scene. a hail of gunfire from a semiautomatic. the victim? 29-year-old ryan postin. he's just opened his own law firm. his life is taking off. a large and distinguished family. so many friends. so many beautiful women orbiting around him. and no known enemies. >> police in highland heights are still trying to piece together what led to the shooting. >> shot six times with his own gun. what happened? >> bang, bang, bang, bang. and down he went to the floor. >> bad blood between a beautiful woman and a man. a twisted romance turned sour. >> we're going to begin with the murder trial of that honor student from kentucky. >> tonight -- >> she said, yeah, he wanted a nose job so i gave him one. >> i gave him his nose job he wanted. >> that made my blood run cold. >> the trial. >> that's the murderer sitting at the table. >> the text. >> my love has turned to hate.

>> i feel like i was led on, manipulated, used and abused. >> and now, all new information. the one thing not heard in that courtroom. >> a-ha. we got something. >> how did things turn from mad love to bad blood? good evening, i'm elizabeth vargas, and welcome to "20/20" saturday. tonight, a brand new twist in a court case that earned the bizarre nickname, the nose job murder. but now it has suddenly become the case of what a injure didn't disclose. and how a young woman's fate could change forever because of it. tonight, you'll hear her speak out. her version of what really happen eed in a story that's al about dating, texting, and what became a fatal attraction. here's gio benitez. >> reporter: the story begins here, at a bar called the milford inn. 24-year-old audrey bolte is waiting. any minute now, a man is supposed to arrive. were you exced

>> yes, of course, i was very much looking forward to it. >> reporter: audrey isn't just your average beautiful blonde on a blind date. >> audrey bolte, you are miss ohio! >> reporter: she's miss ohio 2012. >> three women remain. >> reporter: one of the final three at the miss usa pageant. >> the second runner up is -- ohio. audrey bolte. >> reporter: but tonight, miss ohio is hoping to meet mr. right. >> i had ended a serious relationship about a month prior. so, it was kind of like me getting back out to -- into the social world. >> reporter: they had met on facebook through mutual friends. they talked about possibly meeting at ryan's rondo, but decide to rendezous at the bar. one small change in the plans changes the course of the entire night. >> who wouldn't be looking forward to meet a lawyer from cincinnati who's attractive and funny and witty? i mean, who wouldn't be excited to? >> reporter: it was going to be a night of fun and shooting pool.

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 back at the bar, audrey appears to be getting the cold shoudler. >> i'm kind of looking around and i didn't see him. so, i waited. >> reporter: she goes to touch up her mascara. it's almost 10:30, and its looking as if miss ohio is in the unlikely position of being stood up. you must've been waiting and waiting and waiting. i mean, what's going through your mind? were you angry? >> i mean, i'm a girl, so, i was like, where is this guy? where is he? >> reporter: his name is ryan poston, and audrey was hardly the first woman to find him appealing.

love? >> i thought he was just the most beautiful thing i've ever seen in my life. it was love at first sight. and, i guess it was three days later and i had the key to his apartment. >> reporter: for about two years, lauren worley was with ryan. they even got these dogs, max and lilly, 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. >> reporter: as if you're not gorgeous! >> well, i appreciate that. but i mean, ryan poston is one of a kind. >> reporter: 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. >> it's 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 20, 25 years. >> reporter: tom ardawalla and matt herren were two long-time buddies who agree that ryan's spell wasn't just cast on women. >> he was a very magnetic person to be around. >> reporter: you would go and hang out in bars just like this one. >> yeah. we'd go out a lot, every weekend probably. >> reporter: they say nights with ryan in bars like this wouldn't result in your usual drunk talk, but rather non-stop debate sessions. >> he could literally talk about anything and everything. he was passionate about so many things. >> reporter: 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 e in his boot. he would have one in his holster. it was almost like, that's a guy that is a man, and he can protect. >> reporter: to lauren, ryan's comfort with

they'd practice shooting together at the range. 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 then accidentally, you know, hurt yourself. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: but meanwhile, another one of ryan poston's relationships was disintegrating. >> he was stressed out. absolutely stressed out. >> reporter: crystal owhoso 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 there. >> it was sucking the life out of him, literally. >> reporter: 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 dar

for high tide to roll in so i can stomp on his head while he's drowning." an uncharacteristic display of anger, his friends say, and now something else is incongruous. the usually reliable ryan has left miss ohio, audrey bolte, sitting alone, waiting for him at the milford inn. you must have been thinking, this can't be happening to me right now. >> yeah. he was very, you know, responsive to text messages. i just had talked to him, he said, "okay, no problem, see you there." >> reporter: how many text messages do you think you sent him that night? >> i would say i sent him probably two or three to him saying, "hey, i'm here. where are you? are you coming?" but he didn't show up, so i went home. >> reporter: the reason ryan never showed up? because he's lying in a pool of his own blood in his highland heights condo where audrey almost met him. >> campbell county 911. >> reporter: ryan has been shot. and help won't make it in time. >> are you sure that he is dead?

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"20/20" saturday continues with "bad blood." once again, gio benitez. >> reporter: 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. >> you know, this is highland heights, it doesn't happen in highland heights. >> i'm standing about ten feet from his dead body.

>> reporter: this 911 call just received, and it's a woman's voice. >> ma'am, i have -- um, well, i killed my boyfriend. >> what did you kill him with? >> a gun -- a loaded gun in the house. >> i turned on my lights and took off. >> reporter: you were about a mile away. >> correct. >> reporter: so you were pretty close. >> correct. >> reporter: he pulls into this condo complex. there's about 20 units lining both sides of meadow lane. so, you park the car and you're just walking now. >> right. >> reporter: here it is, building number 12. >> right, building number 12. >> reporter: he enters building 12 and heads up the stairs. >> we're listening for stuff as we go up the steps. >> reporter: 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. >> okay, i will. >> reporter: so, that door opens up. a young woman emerges, early 20s, slim, about 5'8", long

brown hair. >> i told her to be quiet, get on the ground, had my gun pointed at her. >> reporter: his partner cuffs the woman and takes her away while fornash goes inside. >> i can see the body over here. >> reporter: in a similar condo, fornash shows us how he started going room to room. you wanted to make sure there was nobody else in this house? >> correct. my heart is pounding. i don't know what's going on. >> reporter: these crime scene picutres 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 bad is like, right in this area, the head is here. >> reporter: he checks for a pulse. there is none. so, there was no blood up here? >> nothing high. >> reporter: fornash calls for the coroner and heads back to the station, where the woman is waiting in this interview room.

her name, ayna hubers. >> my name's dave fornash, i'm a sergeant, okay? >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: morgan burrows grew up near shayna. 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. >> reporter: morgan says people considered her driven to succeed, a standout student in high school, dean's list in college, now pursuing her masters in school counseling. >> ryan's cousin had known shayna from college, and she had arranged the introduction. >> reporter: ryan'li

friend brian stewart had moved to new york, but remembers ryan telling him about meeting shayna. >> ryan was certainly attracted to her, and i'm sure the feeling was mutual. >> reporter: 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 better than the neighborhood she was in. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: it was a few months after ryan and long-time girlfriend lauren worley had broken up. she didn't know shayna, but her

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 going to get me a doctor or a lawyer. that's who she wanted to date. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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 going to break up or not? was too nice.n't able to. didn't want to hurt her feelings. >> he did feel duty bound to let her down easy. >> reporter: 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? yes. how is that going? it's okay. i'm pretty expletive stressed.

i received 75 text messages from her. i hope she leaves me alone. and shayna confiding to a friend -- >> he says he is only with me because i make him feel so awful when i cry. my love has turned to hate. >> reporter: but they're still together in october 2012. it's the night of the vice presidential debate between joe biden and paul ryan. he loved to watch those debates? >> absolutely loved to watch that kind of stuff. >> reporter: 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 to just have ryan come to dinner, even if shayna was there, as well. >> reporter: 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 step-father and indicated that the relationship wasn't going forward. >> reporter: and he's got a new girl already lined up. remember miss ohio, audrey bolte? that blind date is 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. >> reporter: 24 hours later, ryan is dead. >> a highland heights woman allegedly shot and killed her boyfriend. >> shayna hubers allegedly fired those fatal shots. >> this is somebody who wanted him dead. >> it was like i was at, it was out-of-body experience. >> reporter: and shayna is in the interrogation room, utterly ignoring her right to remain silent. >> i gave him his nose job he wanted. >> when i first saw the interrogation tapes of shayna hubers, i immediately thought of jodi arias. >> reporter: 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 until you see this. ♪ how sweet the sound >> reporter: we'll be right back. ♪ that

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"20/20" continues with "bad blood." >> reporter: 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! >> reporter: 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. >> stay tight. i'll be with you in just a second. you're fine.

nondescript eight by eight room, a video camera rolls as seargent dave fornash reads shayna hubers her miranda rights. >> it says you have the right to remain silent. >> reporter: so she said, "i want an attorney." >> right. i can't ask her any questions once she invokes the right to have an attorney. >> reporter: though to complete his report, he asks for the victim's name. >> okay. what was his name? >> the man that i killed? ryan carter poston. >> reporter: "the man that i killed," she says. >> i was kind of stunned. and at that point, you know, she just started talking. >> reporter: 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. as soon as it happened, it was surreal. it was like i was at -- it was out-of-body experience. it was like, that was not me. that was not me. >> okay. >> reporter: sergeant fornash leaves the room to process what

meanwhile, shayna becomes increasely anxious. look at her here, fidgeting, pacing and drinking cope cope yus amounts of water. eventually another officer comes to keep her company. once again, without being asked, shayna starts spouting. >> i didn't plan for it to happen. >> reporter: telling officers what she says happened inside that apartment, a domestic dispute gone awry. >> picking me up and throwing me against the bookshelf. that's when he started screaming all the nasty things, i mean, "you're a [ bleep ] hill billy, everyone knows you're [ bleep ] crazy." >> reporter: shayna says ryan sat at this dining room table glaring and screaming at her, all while playing with his sig sauer semiautomatic handgun and ammo. >> he pulled it out lift it, and was like, "what would you do if i shot you right now?" and i was afraid. >> reporter: she goes on to paint ryan as a pill-popping zealot. habitually abusing prescription drugs like adderall, xanax and ambien.

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. >> reporter: shayna starts to act it all out, saying ryan got up. >> he wasn't completely standing up. he was like this. >> reporter: 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. 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. >> reporter: six slugs, a mercy killing, she claims, to put her bleeding boyfriend out of his misery. but then, an extraordinary remark. >> he's very 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. >> reporter: yeah, you heard that right.

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? it was like, "did she just really say that?" >> reporter: 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. >> hubers could not shut her pie hole. she could not be quiet. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: asking a series of strange questions about life behind bars. >> if you go to jail, are you allowed to keep your phone? can you shower there? or do you just get really dirty? i have to shower in front of people? oh [ bleep ] oh my god. >> reporter: musing out loud about love. >> i don't know if anyone will ever want to

know i killed a boyfriend in self-defense. not funny, but -- >> reporter: and then, the would-be school counselor worrying about her homework. >> i have two papers due monday that i haven't submitted. i don't know if that's even going to matter now. >> what her behavior in the interrogation room says to me is that there was no remorse whatsoever. none. >> reporter: but it's when she is alone in that room that she is the most revealing. listen as she paces back and forth, muttering. >> i did it. yes, i did. i cannot believe i did that. >> reporter: listen again. "i did it, i did it." >> i did it. yes, i did. >> reporter: at one point, she breaks out ballet moves. and even starts singing "amazing grace." ♪ how sweet

♪ that saved a wretch >> reporter: 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. a lot of the things she did in there were staged. >> reporter: that was enough for sergeant fornash. he comes back into the room. >> here's what's going to happen right now, shayna, okay. with everything that we have, we're going to -- i'm going to have to charge you with murder. >> what degree? >> murder. there's no degree. >> reporter: and places her under arrest for the murder of ryan poston. and just as shayna herself predicted -- >> i'm going to be talked about for many years. >> reporter: the shooting immediately made big headlines. >> she shot her boyfriend in self-defense. >> a grand jury has indicted a northern kentucky woman. >> a young kentucky woman

boyfriend, shooting him six times and then boasting that she quote, gave him the nose job he always wanted. >> reporter: when we come back, shayna moves from the interrogation room to the courtroom. >> i'm shayna hubers. >> reporter: where her self-defense claim -- >> bang, bang, bang. >> reporter: -- might actually get traction with the jury. >> it is more likely that a jury will buy that defense if the defendant is a woman. >> reporter: and five of the jurors are women. stay with us. today, i'm going to fight hunge♪ today, i don't want to be hungry. we just have to buy food. my family gets the food we need. i'm so glad we could help. i'm so glad someone helped. hunger lives closer than you think. purchase participating items at walmart and you can help secure a meal for someone in need

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"20/20" saturday continues with "bad blood." once again, gio benitez. >> reporter: it's setting up to be the trial of the year in northern kentucky. >> the case of accused murderer shayna hubers. ryan poston was shot six times. shooting him in the face. >> was it murder or self-defense? >> reporter: 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 huybers. >> i'm >> what did you believe would have happened if you hadn't grabbed that gun first? >> i believe i would have been hurt, that i would have been shot. >> reporter: demure enough in her glasses and jailhouse stripes, her image, a sharp contrast to her former life. >> you would say anything to this court to get yourself out of jail.

>> reporter: prosecutor michelle snodgrass pounces, calling her a flight risk. >> you talked about changing your hair, burning off your fingerprints. phone calls that you 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 a risk of flight. >> reporter: bail denied. >> all rise. we are on the record. >> reporter: today, shayna is before that judge again, on trial for murder. >> that's the murderer, sitting at the table. >> reporter: would a jury buy her claim of self-defense? >> going into the trial, shayna hubers had something very important going for her. and that is, we are all very, very aware of domestic abuse. >> reporter: walking into this courtroom, did you ever think,

>> there is no such thing as a slam dunk case. >> reporter: maybe so, but snodgrass must know you have more than an outside shot when your suspect acts like jodi arias. what do you think was the pivotal sort of testimony in that courtroom? >> probably the most important thing was that two and half hour video. i think that speaks volumes. not just her words, but her actions. >> reporter: she lets the jurors hear shayna's 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. >> reporter: it was the phrase that made the case notorious. just google shayna hubers and up pops "the nose job murder." >> i didn't say those words, she did. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: to prove how

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 abused to her. >> she would throw furniture around to make it seem like there was a right. >> and what did she say had really happened? >> that she was the aggressor in the fight. >> i don't believe there was any kind of struggle. >> reporter: highland heights police chief bill birkenhauer was the lead detective on the case. >> my shoulder hurts. >> reporter: he says shayna didn't have any bruises that night. but ryan had quite a lot of something the prosecution claims is much more significant. >> and how many facebook messages did he have? >> reporter: almost like a voice from beyond the grave, ryan poston's own texts and facebook posts. tens of thousands of them. >> i would say there was

>> reporter: you looked through each and every one of those messages, didn't you? >> i did. all the text messages together told me that ryan poston did not want to be in a relationship with shayna hubers. >> reporter: ryan texting a friend. "i received 75 text messages from her. i am emotionally and mentally spent. i hope she leaves me alone." add shayn a's 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. >> reporter: the most crucial message of all? one shayna sent to her close friend, christie oiler. a seemingly incriminating message when shayna and ryan were going to a shooting range together. >> when i go to the shooting range with ryan tonight, i want to turn around and shoot and kill him and play like it's an accident. >> i wish i would've 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. >> reporter: the prosecution says, it was not long after that, that shayna finds out about that date with miss ohio. >> when things don't go her way, it was not good. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: but now its shayna's turn. >> she acted in self-protection. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: defense attorney david meija says the couple was arguing and that shayna shot ryan after they both grabbed at that gun that was laying on the table.

gun, it would have been me and not him. >> all right, you may call your first witness. >> 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. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: the next night, shayna is back at ryan's again. when her mother gets an even more disturbing call. >> she was hysterical. terrified. >> reporter: this time, shayna tells her, she's just got ryan. >> she was a mess. >> reporter: it's sharon that tells her daughter to call 911, and so she does. >> campbell county 911. >> ma'am, well, i -- i killed my boyfriend in self-defense.

>> is a person who shoots somebody intentionally without justification going to call the police with this kind of speed? >> he threw me across the room. >> reporter: 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 [ bleep ] destroyed. bury him neck deep at low tide and 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 6'3", 230. she is 5'6", 5'8", 110 pounds. >> reporter: meijia says there's plenty of reasonable doubt. >> emptying the clip into somebody against who has threatened violence against you, who is going to grab a gun to shoot you in your belief, is absolutely justified by under the law.

>> reporter: but unlike the bond hearing -- >> i'm shayna hubers. >> reporter: shayna herself never takes the stand in trial. >> you know what, shayna hubers, wherever she is, i did her justice. >> reporter: her lawyer knows he only has to convince one juror. did he? >> the police do not determine guilt of innocence. you do. >> we had to decide, was she under extreme emotional distress, or was it just something that she did? >> reporter: but what was the secret one juror was keeping that could make the whole case collapse? stay with us. to the woman in the mid-90's showstopper... you're right. it's time to set this bird free. ♪ hot blooded, check it and see...♪ ♪ got a fever of 103... feelin' hungry? how 'bout a donut? ♪ i'm hot blooded..i'm hot blooded! ♪ whether it's 30-years old or 30-days old, carmax will appraise it in as little as 30 minutes. and then your only concern will be

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"20/20" saturday continues with "bad blood."

>> reporter: 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. after nine intense days of grueling testimony -- >> i can't answer that. >> reporter: 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. >> mr. foreman, has jury reached a verdict? >> we have, your honor. >> reporter: after just five hours of deliberations, a midnight verdict is in. >> we the jury find the defendant shayna hubers guilty of murder under instruction number three. >> reporter: shayna hubers, guilty of murder. the courtroom overcome with emotion. >> ladies and gentlemen, i'm

evening. >> reporter: 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, shayn a'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. >> reporter: but guilt is only step one. >> what's left is sentencing. >> reporter: 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. ryan's sister, katie carter, takes the stand recounting the moment when she found out her big brother had died. >> and i said, it's not true. it's not true. >> reporter: katie describes how in the two years since his death, her family's life has

changed. >> he made us complete. and without him, there is always a chair that's going to be empty. he will never be able to have all the things that he deserved to have in his life. >> reporter: katie walks off the stand and into the loving embrace of ryan's two other sisters. meanwhile, shayna hubers, sitting on the other side of the courtroom, remains reactionless. >> ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we'll hear closing statements. >> reporter: >> reporter: shayna's attorney david meija makes a final push for the jury to give her the statutory minimum of 20 years. lice.ayna hubers called the shayna hubers cooperated with law enforcement. >> reporter: 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,

potential for reformation. >> can i have just a minute? >> you may, miss snodgrass. >> reporter: 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 that katie 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 poston was alive for each of the six shots. i bet there was suffering, i bet there was pain, and i bet there was torture. >> reporter: as snodgrass wraps her closing argument, she asks for life. >> i think a life sentence is appropriate. >> reporter: and shayna hubers, maybe for the first time, looks concerned. after deliberating for only an hour -- >> all

>> reporter: -- the jury is back in the courtroom. ready to recommend their sentence. >> we the jury fix the defendant, shayna 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 out. >> even with a 40-year sentence, she's likely to get out in just 20 years. it doesn't seem quite right, does it? >> reporter: the judge will have the final word. four months later, shayna returns to court in prison stripes for the formal sentencing. >> ms. hubers, come forward please. >> reporter: 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 was not what i thought it was. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: she makes nasty remarks about her victim. >> i feel like i was led on. i feel like i was manipulated, used and abused. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: but the judge is unmoved. >> probably as coldblooded an act as i've been associated with in the criminal justice system in the 30-plus years i've been in it. >> reporter: the sentence will be just what the jury wanted. >> i think 40 years is more than appropriate and i think that's the sentence i'm going to impose. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: the defense makes a shocking discovery.

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 asked the judge to declare a mistrial. >> the key question for the judge is going to be, did this juror do it on purpose? did this juror lie to get on the jury? >> reporter: in any event, until the judge makes his ruling, the infamous "nose job murder" case is under review. everyone involved holding their breath like former miss ohio audrey bolte. though she never actually met ryan poston, she can't help but wonder if her blind date with ryan was the motive for his murder. >> all of the time, i play it back in my head, and, it took me a long time to be okay. >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: 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.mes, unaware death was lurking. what? he was challenged by a team of lumberjacks. let's do this. he would drive them to hard knocks canyon,

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as of now, no date has been set for a new hearing regarding that possible mistrial. the judge is considering written arguments and will make a determination later. thank you so much for watching tonight. i'm litz beth vargas. for david and all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, have a great night and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

kellye: right now, the winds of change are in the air. the big shift coming in the weather that has already caused action for the cherry blossom events. >> oh, my gosh. kellye: left in the dark, what is being done for an entire apartment building after a transformer blew.