Mackenzie Shirilla, convicted in the 2022 crash that resulted in the deaths of her boyfriend Dominic Russo and friend Davion Flanagan, has exhausted her legal options after the Ohio Supreme Court denied her final appeal. The court's decision, issued Tuesday, means Shirilla will continue serving her life sentence. She will be eligible for parole no earlier than October 2037.
The Ohio Supreme Court stated it "declines to accept jurisdiction of the appeal," according to People. This ruling follows a series of rejections from lower courts, including the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and the Eighth District Court of Appeals.
Shirilla's legal team had argued that she suffered from a pre-existing medical condition, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which they claimed her trial lawyers failed to adequately investigate as a potential cause for her losing consciousness before the fatal crash. They alleged that her lawyers did not sufficiently explore this medical evidence during the trial.
Previous Appeal Attempts
Earlier this year, an attempt to appeal was dismissed by an appellate court due to a one-day delay in filing a crucial document. Her legal team filed a motion for postconviction relief 366 days after the trial transcript was submitted, one day past the strict deadline. Shirilla's attorneys petitioned the Supreme Court, contending that the delay was due to miscalculations related to juvenile court transcripts and a leap year, arguing for additional time to submit the motion.
Prosecutors stated that Shirilla, then 17, intentionally drove her sedan into a brick building at nearly 100 mph on July 31, 2022. The vehicle was traveling in a 35 mph zone with the accelerator fully engaged and no brakes applied moments before the impact. Evidence presented at trial included surveillance video showing the car speeding before crashing into the PLIDCO building in Strongsville, Ohio. First responders described the scene as one of the worst crashes they had ever encountered, with the vehicle split in half.
Russo and Flanagan died at the scene, while Shirilla survived with severe injuries.
During her 2023 sentencing, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found Shirilla guilty of murder, stating, "This was not reckless driving - this was murder. She had a mission, and she executed it with precision."
Shirilla has maintained her innocence, asserting the crash was unintentional and calling herself a "third victim." In recorded jail calls, she expressed that she does not need to be "rehabilitated." She is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life. Recently, she began working as a food service employee in prison.
The case gained renewed attention following the release of a documentary, "The Crash," which revisited the fatal collision and included interviews with Shirilla from prison. Reports from former inmates, detailed by the Daily Mail, suggested Shirilla displayed no remorse and embraced her notoriety while incarcerated.
Shirilla's attorneys have aggressively pursued multiple appeals since her conviction, all of which have been denied.
