US2 min(s) read
Published 10:42 25 Jun 2026 GMT
Mackenzie Shirilla's latest attempt to overturn her murder conviction has been rejected after the Supreme Court of Ohio declined to hear her appeal, the third unsuccessful challenge to her case since she was found guilty in 2023.
Shirilla, now 21, has pursued multiple appeals through the courts following her conviction over the crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, four years ago. Her appeals in both the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and the Eighth District Court of Appeals were ultimately unsuccessful.
The case has recently attracted renewed attention following the release of Netflix's documentary The Crash, which features Shirilla speaking publicly about the incident for the first time since her conviction.
In her most recent appeal, filed on April 27, Shirilla's lawyers raised a new argument concerning her health at the time of the crash.
The filing stated: "There is medical evidence that Mackenzie Shirilla suffered from a pre-existing medical condition that could have caused her to black out while driving."
Her legal team argued that a petition for post-conviction relief had been dismissed on procedural grounds after being submitted past the filing deadline.
However, the court concluded that the petition was filed too late because of a calculation error involving the leap year.
According to court documents: "The trial transcripts were filed in her direct appeal on October 23, 2023, triggering the 365-day statutory clock to file the petition."
The ruling continued: "Shirilla filed her petition on October 24, 2024, which is the same day that many of her exhibits were notarized."
Because 2024 contained an extra day, the court determined the filing missed the deadline.
The judgment stated: "Because 2024 was a leap year, Shirilla's petition was late by one day. The trial court properly denied her petition as untimely."
Shirilla was convicted after prosecutors successfully argued that she intentionally drove her vehicle into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, at around 100mph without braking, killing both her boyfriend and his friend.
When delivering her verdict in August 2023, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo rejected claims that the collision was accidental.
She told the court: "This was not reckless driving - this was murder."
The judge added: "She had a mission, and she executed it with precision. The decision was death."
Shirilla is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and is expected to become eligible for parole in September 2037.
