Ohio Supreme Court won't reconsider Mackenzie Shirilla appeal
The Ohio Supreme Court declined Tuesday to reconsider Mackenzie Shirilla's appeal of her 2023 Strongsville murder conviction, issuing a 5–2 decision without opinion. It was the third time the state's high court left lower rulings intact, keeping Mackenzie Shirilla imprisoned on a 15-years-to-life sentence for the July 2022 crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan.
Key Takeaways
- Justices voted 5–2 to deny Shirilla's motion for reconsideration, with Jennifer Brunner and Pat DeWine dissenting.
- Shirilla, 17 at the time of the crash, was tried as an adult and convicted in 2023 of four counts of murder and related charges.
- Lower courts rejected her post-conviction petition as time-barred because it was filed one day after Ohio's 365-day deadline.
- Her attorneys argue filing-deadline rules are enforced inconsistently across Ohio appellate districts.
- A federal appeal remains pending while Netflix's documentary "The Crash" has renewed national scrutiny of the case.
What did the Ohio Supreme Court decide on Tuesday?
On Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Shirilla's request for the justices to reconsider their denial of her appeal. In March, the Eighth District Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that her legal team waited too long to file a supplemental post-conviction relief petition.
In a 5–2 decision issued without an opinion, the court declined the motion for reconsideration. This marks the third time the Supreme Court has ruled against Shirilla and left in place lower court rulings upholding her conviction, according to Yahoo News.
The court had previously left the appellate ruling in place by a 6–1 vote on June 23. Justices Jennifer Brunner, the court's lone Democrat, and Republican Pat DeWine dissented from Tuesday's decision.
Why was Mackenzie Shirilla's post-conviction petition denied?
Shirilla's lawyers filed their post-conviction relief petition on Oct. 24, 2024 — one day after the deadline mandated by Ohio law. Her team argued the error stemmed from 2024 being a leap year, which added an extra day to the count.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, who presided over Shirilla's 2023 bench trial, ruled in May 2025 that the petition was "time-barred as a matter of law." The Eighth District Court of Appeals unanimously agreed, finding the petition was filed on the 366th day following the trial transcript filing.
In a July motion for reconsideration, attorneys John T. Martin and Steven L. Bradley argued that appellate courts in other Ohio districts have allowed similar petitions filed after the 365-day window. They contended Shirilla's petition would have been heard on its merits had she been convicted in certain other districts.
What was Mackenzie Shirilla convicted of?
Prosecutors alleged that in July 2022, Shirilla intentionally sped her car to roughly 100 mph before slamming into a brick wall of a commercial building in Strongsville, a Cleveland suburb. Russo was 21 and Flanagan was 19 when they died in the fiery crash.
Shirilla was found guilty of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault, and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. She was sentenced to 15 years to life and is serving her term at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.
Shirilla and her defense team have maintained she did not intentionally cause the crash, pointing to medical evidence suggesting she may have blacked out from a seizure related to a nervous system disorder.
What happens next in the Mackenzie Shirilla case?
Tuesday's ruling appears to mark the end of Shirilla's appeals at the state level. Outside Ohio, her attorneys have filed a federal appeal in Northern Ohio U.S. District Court challenging her transfer from juvenile court, ineffective representation, and the dismissal of her post-conviction petition.
The case has drawn intense national attention since Netflix released "The Crash," a documentary that became the streaming platform's most-watched film for two consecutive weeks. As viral legal stories reshape how audiences encounter courtroom outcomes, coverage like this sits alongside broader discussions in our Future Tech & AI Wonders section about how media platforms amplify real-world cases.
Shirilla's lawyers wrote on Instagram after an earlier denial that she is "holding on to hope" and that her family will continue seeking a hearing on the merits of her claims.