Mackenzie Shirilla’s latest attempt to have her case reviewed by Ohio’s Supreme Court has met a dead end.
The Ohio Supreme Court has opted not to take up Shirilla’s case, thereby upholding a decision by a lower court which dismissed her postconviction petition for being filed one day past the deadline.
The court issued a statement on June 23, indicating that after considering the jurisdictional papers, it decided not to proceed with the case. The order was officially endorsed by Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy.
Interest in Shirilla’s case has been reignited following the release of Netflix’s new series titled “The Crash.”
During her sentencing at the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland, Ohio on August 21, 2023, Mackenzie Shirilla addressed the court. She was convicted on four counts of murder related to the deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, Davion Flanagan, which occurred in July 2022. (Law&Crime livestream)
Shirilla, now 21, is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison for killing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, after prosecutors said she deliberately slammed her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, on July 31, 2022.
She was later convicted after a bench trial of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Shirilla drove into the building to end her toxic relationship with Russo, and that Flanagan was an unintended victim who happened to be in the car.
Shirilla has maintained the crash was not intentional. News Media has reached out to her attorneys for comment.
Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan were killed July 31, 2022, when authorities said Mackenzie Shirilla intentionally crashed her car into a wall. She was convicted of four counts of murder and other charges for their deaths. (A. Ripepi and Sons Funeral/ Jardine Funeral HomeHOme)
Since the docuseries, Shirilla’s lawyers filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court, arguing that her trial lawyers failed to adequately investigate evidence that she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. The syndrome, they say, could have caused her to lose consciousness before the crash.
The defense says the condition was only “cursorily referenced” at trial despite Shirilla and her family allegedly putting her attorneys on notice about it. Her lawyers argued trial counsel should have dug deeper and sought expert testimony to explain whether POTS could account for Shirilla’s failure to brake before impact.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley “believes without question that Mackenzie Shirilla is guilty of murder,” his office said in a May 27 statement.
Mackenzie Shirlla was convicted of intentionally crashing her car into a brick wall to kill her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, Davion Flanagan. Shirilla posted the photo to Russo’s online obituary. (Legacy.com)
Her convictions were already upheld on direct appeal in 2024, but the appeals court found Shirilla missed the statutory deadline.
Under Ohio law, a postconviction petition must generally be filed within 365 days after the trial transcript is filed in the court of appeals. The court said the relevant transcript was filed Oct. 24, 2023, making the deadline Oct. 23, 2024. Shirilla filed on Oct. 24, 2024, the 366th day.
Shirilla argued the clock should have started later, when juvenile bindover transcripts were filed, and also pointed to the 2024 leap year. The appellate court rejected both arguments, finding that the statute refers to the “trial transcript,” not supplemental juvenile-hearing transcripts, and that the law says 365 days, not a calendar year.
The court also refused to excuse the late filing on fairness grounds, saying the deadline is jurisdictional and Shirilla had not met any statutory exception.