Convicted of killing her boyfriend and their friend in 2022 when she intentionally slammed into a wall at nearly 100 mph, the 21-year-old is asking Ohio’s highest court for a “fair retrial”
Credit: Mackenzie Shirilla/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- A new picture of Mackenzie Shirilla was posted to her Instagram account, with her “support team” saying she is “trying to do better every day and holding on to hope”
- Her support team is asking the public to sign and share a petition requesting the Ohio Supreme Court to grant the 21-year-old “a fair re-trial”
- She posted a glam selfie from prison where she is serving a sentence of 15 years to life for slamming her car into a wall at nearly 100 mph, killing her boyfriend and their friend
Mackenzie Shirilla’s support team shared a new photo of the convicted felon on social media as her lawyers ask the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider her latest appeal.
On Tuesday, July 7, Shirilla’s Instagram featured a new picture of her looking somberly at the camera with pouty lips and leaning up against a wall from inside the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence for crashing her car into a building at almost 100 mph in 2022, killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19.
Opting for bench trial instead of a jury trial, a judge found her guilty in 2023 of four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.
Shirilla and her team have appealed the conviction ever since, albeit unsuccessfully.
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On June 23, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected her lawyers’ latest request for post-conviction relief, ruling that her legal team filed the petition one day past the legally mandated deadline.
On Tuesday, July 7, Shirilla’s lawyers filed a new motion asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider its appeal, stating the deadlines were confusing, court documents state, WOIO, WKYC and WJW report.
Hoping to sway the state’s highest court to take another look at her appeal, the Instagram post said, “Mackenzie and her family (along with everyone’s help) will respectfully continue to do everything they can so that the merits of the brief can be heard, just as anyone else would do in their position.
View this post on Instagram
“Keep sharing everything you can and Please sign and share this petition for a fair re-trial. We ALL deserve fair representation and once you review her case you’ll agree she did not get that. Please click, sign, and share the petition in her bio. – Mackenzie Shirilla’s Support Team #freemackenzie #mackenzieshirilla #wrongfullyconvicted #thecrash”
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Comments about her post abounded. “You are in prison not college , stop posting on here,” Modest Girl Mom wrote.
TaylorAnnJay added to the comments, writing, “your daughter is right where she needs to be and will likely spend the rest of her life in jail. You should be ashamed, as a mother, that you try to deny her accountability. Two sons lost their lives.”
The sensational case returned to the headlines in May, with the debut of the Netflix documentary The Crash.
Shirilla is scheduled for her first parole hearing in September 2037, when she is 33, according to state prison records. Her attorneys did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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