Mackenzie Shirilla’s attempt to persuade Ohio’s top court to consider her newest appeal has come to an end.
The Ohio Supreme Court refused to take jurisdiction over Shirilla’s case, allowing a lower-court decision to stand after her postconviction petition was thrown out for being filed one day past the deadline.
In a June 23 entry, the justices said they had examined the jurisdictional filings but would not hear the matter. Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy signed the order.
Shirilla’s case has drawn renewed public attention following the release of Netflix’s new series, “The Crash.”
Mackenzie Shirilla addresses the court during her sentencing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland, Ohio, on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Shirilla was convicted of four murder counts and additional charges connected to the July 2022 deaths of her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his friend, Davion Flanagan. (Law&Crime livestream)
Shirilla, now 21, is serving two concurrent prison terms of 15 years to life for the deaths of Russo, 20, and Flanagan, 19. Prosecutors said she intentionally drove her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, on July 31, 2022.
Following a bench trial, she was found guilty of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
At trial, prosecutors contended that Shirilla crashed into the building as a way to end what they described as a toxic relationship with Russo, while Flanagan was an unintended victim who happened to be riding in the car.
Shirilla has maintained the crash was not intentional. News Agency 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)
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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.
