Convicted murderer Mackenzie Shirilla has lost what appeared to be her final route to challenging her conviction, after the Ohio Supreme Court refused to hear her appeal — a decision that comes only weeks after a previous filing was rejected because her lawyers missed the deadline by one day.
Shirilla, 21, is incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is serving a life sentence for the 2022 high-speed crash that killed her boyfriend, 20-year-old Dominic Russo, and their friend, 19-year-old Davion Flanagan.
The Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday effectively ended her latest legal challenge, ensuring the woman branded a “hell on wheels” killer will remain in prison until at least October 2037, the earliest date she can seek parole.
In an order signed by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, the court said it “declines to accept jurisdiction of the appeal,” according to People.
With her remaining appeals now unsuccessful, Shirilla will continue serving the sentence handed down in 2023 and will not be eligible for release consideration until she is 33.
The decision marks a major defeat for her defense team, which had pushed repeatedly to undo the conviction through three separate legal efforts — two filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and one before the Eighth District Court of Appeals.
Shirilla’s lawyers have maintained that medical evidence points to a possible pre-existing condition that could have caused her to black out before her car slammed into a brick building at close to 100 mph.
They also argued that her original trial attorneys did not sufficiently pursue evidence indicating she may suffer from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, commonly known as POTS.
Mackenzie Shirilla’s final bid for freedom was denied by the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday, the state’s highest court
The order, signed by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy, stated that the court ‘declines to accept jurisdiction of the appeal’
The ruling means that Shirilla will remain behind bars until at least October 2037, when she will first be eligible for parole
But every attempt she has made has been rejected by the courts.
Shirilla brought her case before Ohio’s highest court after using all available options in the lower courts, but it was denied in May 2025.
She filed a motion for postconviction relief after her initial attempts to secure release were denied, a separate legal process used to challenge a conviction or sentence outside of a direct appeal.
Last month, however, the motion was tossed by the appellate court after her legal team failed to meet the strict deadline, filing it 366 days after the trial transcript was submitted – just one day past the cutoff.
She then petitioned the Supreme Court to consider her motion, arguing that because juvenile court transcripts were not filed until months after the trial transcripts, she should have been allowed more time to submit it.
Her attorneys also argued that the delay was the result of a miscalculation tied to a leap year.
Tuesday’s decision comes years after prosecutors said Shirilla, then 17, deliberately drove her Toyota Camry into the side of the PLIDCO building in Strongsville, Ohio, on July 31, 2022, as her relationship with Russo deteriorated.
While Russo and Flanagan died almost instantly, Shirilla survived the crash and was hospitalized with multiple severe injuries.
Shirilla’s attorneys argued that she suffered from a pre-existing condition that may have caused her to lose consciousness before slamming her sedan into a brick building at nearly 100mph
Prosecutors claimed that Shirilla deliberately crashed her car on July 31, 2022, as her relationship with Dominic Russo deteriorated
Shirilla remains behind bars at the Ohio Reformatory for Women for killing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19
Evidence presented at trial showed that the vehicle was traveling approximately 100mph in a 35mph zone moments before impact, with data indicating the accelerator was fully engaged and no brakes were applied.
Surveillance video showed the car speeding down a quiet road before smashing through a business sign and slamming into the building, with first responders finding the vehicle split in half in what one officer called ‘the worst crash I’ve ever seen.’
Shirilla has maintained that the crash was not intentional, calling herself a ‘third victim’ who does not need to be ‘rehabilitated’ in shocking phone calls with her mother.
Judge Nancy Margaret Russo ultimately found her guilty in 2023, famously declaring: ‘This was not reckless driving – this was murder.’
‘She had a mission, and she executed it with precision,’ the judge said.
The case has remained in the headlines in recent weeks following the release of The Crash, which revisited the fatal collision and featured interviews with Shirilla from prison.
The Daily Mail had previously reported allegations from former inmates that she cultivated a ‘Mean Girl’ reputation behind bars, embraced the notoriety surrounding her case and showed little remorse for the crash.
A former inmate, who gave her name as Kat, said: ‘She showed absolutely no remorse. Mackenzie acted like it was glorified high school, she walked around like she was famous.’
Shirilla survived the crash and was hospitalized with multiple severe injuries
A former inmate said Shirilla ‘showed absolutely no remorse’
Shirilla has maintained that the crash was not intentional, calling herself a ‘third victim’
Kat also revealed that Shirilla was enjoying such torrid romances with other women that she would regularly walk around with ‘hickeys on her neck.’
‘The girlfriend thing was well known,’ she said. ‘And in prison it’s very common especially for people in her life sentence situation and especially with the younger girls.’
Shirilla herself previously told The Daily Mail that she believed she was the victim of a ‘wrongful conviction.’
She is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life, and has recently landed a prison job as a food service worker after complaining that there was ‘literally nothing’ for her to do behind bars.
