Update on Mackenzie Shirilla's latest appeal as prosecutors urge court to throw it out
Prosecutors have urged the Supreme Court of Ohio to deny Mackenzie Shirilla’s latest bid for freedom, saying that her legal team have made no new arguments.
Twenty-two-year-old Shirilla is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life for the 2022 murder of her then-boyfriend Dominic Russo and his friend Davion Flanagan.
At her trial, Shirilla was dubbed ‘hell on the wheels’ by the judge, after black box evidence showed that she had crashed her Toyota Camry into a brick wall at speeds of 100mph.
The case has been back in the news again, following the release of the Netflix documentary The Crash, which features interviews with many of those close to the case including the victims’ families as well as Shirilla and her parents.
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Throughout the trial and subsequent incarceration, Shirilla has maintained her innocence and her legal time have filed three appeals in an attempt to get her a fresh trial.
Last month, the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the latest appeal.
The court ruled that it would not hear the appeal due to the appeal being filed past the deadline.
Under Ohio law, a convicted defendant has a year (365 days) after the trial transcripts are filed to challenge the motion.
Shirilla’s lawyer submitted her appeal a single day late, and have since argued that the deadline was missed due to 2024 being a leap year..
But in June, the Ohio Supreme Court declined the appeal, ruling ‘that the trial court correctly determined it was without jurisdiction to consider the petition’.
However, Shirilla’s team made it clear they won’t be giving up on the appeal just yet, and on Tuesday (7 July) her attorney filed a motion asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider, saying the deadlines were confusing.
Now in a new update, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office has called on the court to reject the motion for reconsideration, arguing that her legal team has not raised a single new issue.
In documents seen by TMZ, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office wrote: "What new material issue does Mackenzie Shirilla bring to this Court’s attention? None. In fact, Shirilla more than once directs the Court to arguments already briefed in her 'previously filed memorandum in support of jurisdiction’.”
Prosecutors have acknowledged that a reconsideration can be used to correct a decision that is later found to be wrong, but say that it shouldn’t be used when someone is just arguing their case.
The documents point the court back to arguments Shirilla’s team made before the appeal was declined last month.
Back in July, Defence lawyer Tera Coleman, who is not working on Shirilla’s case, gave some insight into how things may progress, telling Cleveland19 that it’s ‘very rare’ for the Ohio Supreme Court to grant motions for reconsideration.
As it stands, Shirilla will not be eligible for parole until 2037, but her trial judge warned that she could spend the rest of her life behind bars.
Mackenzie Shirilla timeline
17 July 2022 - Mackenzie Shirilla and her boyfriend Dominic Russo get into an argument. A friend allegedly overhears Shirilla tell him: “I will crash this car right now.”
31 July 2022 - Shirilla is driving Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, from Russo’s home to a friend’s house. At around 5.30am, she crashes the car into a Plidco Building in Strongsville, Ohio, travelling at 100mph without braking. Police arrive on the scene 45 minutes later. Russo and Flanagan are pronounced dead and Shirilla is transported to MetroHealth Medical Center.
August 2022 - 200 people attend a vigil for Russo and Flanagan. Shirilla remains in critical condition. When a detective visits her in hospital, she is said to be speaking a ‘unique language’ similar to pig Latin.
October 2022 - Shirilla attends a Halloween party wearing fancy dress which resembles a corpse, which Davion’s father considers in very poor taste. He says in Netflix’s The Crash: “Dressing up as corpses three months after she killed two people, it just sickened us to the very core.”
4 November 2022 - Shirilla is arrested and faces 18 charges, including two counts of aggravated murder. She also faces charges for allegedly breaking into the Columbia Church of God in Columbia Station days before the crash, along with drug possession charges.
7 August 2023 - Shirilla’s trial begins. Her defence team argue she may have passed out at the time of the crash due to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), but no medical records or expert testimony confirms the diagnosis.
14 August 2023 - Shirilla is found guilty on all counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo calls her ‘hell on wheels’, and the court concludes she intentionally crashed the car in a premeditated act.
23 August 2023 - Shirilla is sentenced to two concurrent 15 years to life sentences. Her legal team later lose an appeal and relief petition. She remains incarcerated in the Ohio Reformatory for Women.
22 May 2025 - Shirilla’s parents insist that she’s innocent. Her father Steve tells WKYC: “Show me one piece of evidence - one - that says she did this on purpose. Show it to me, then she's right where she belongs and she's guilty of it. But there isn't any.” Her mother Natalie claims there are texts in which Shirilla says Russo was ‘trying to end her life’.
15 May 2026 - Netflix’s The Crash premieres. In it, Shirilla insists she is ‘not a murderer’ and has no memory of the crash, continuing to blame POTS.
18 May 2026 - Steve Shirilla is placed on administrative leave from his job as an art and digital media teacher at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland following allegations he had ‘demonstrated poor judgement’. Viewers of Netflix’s documentary objected to his attitude towards Shirilla’s marijuana use and his dismissal of claims she told a classmate to end their life.
September 2037 - This is when Shirilla will be eligible for parole
Topics: Mackenzie Shirilla
Claire Reid