The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear Mackenzie Shirilla’s second appeal following her conviction for the 2022 deaths of Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19. She is currently serving 15 years to life in prison for the intentionally fatal car crash that changed the lives of many.
Fatal Car Crash
Shirilla was convicted on August 31, 2023, on two counts of murder, one count of possession of drugs, and one count of possession of criminal tools for a fatal crash that took the lives of her boyfriend, Russo, and their friend, Flanagan.
Shirilla drove at 100 mph into a wall in Strongsville, Ohio, and her case became the subject of the popular Netflix documentary The Crash, leading to a widespread resurgence of interest in the incident. People became outraged all over again, with many not realizing this was years ago.
Courts Deny Appeals
On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy signed the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision stating it “declines to accept jurisdiction of the appeal.” Shirilla’s appeal was previously denied on May 28 after her attorneys filed it one day late, and they defended their actions, saying it was a miscalculation due to a leap year.
This is Shirilla’s third attempt to appeal the case, and her initial appeal in May 2025 was also denied review by the Ohio Supreme Court. Her attorneys have filed twice in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, and once in the Eighth District Court of Appeals, but none have agreed to review.
The same judge who found Shirilla guilty at her bench trial ruled that her appeal for a new trial and supplemental post-conviction relief was invalid. The Eighth District Court of Appeals upheld Judge Nancy Margaret Russo’s decision in March 2026 in their decline to review.
Leap Year Chaos
On April 27, 2026, Shirilla’s attorneys filed an appeal with the Ohio Supreme Court alleging that “there is medical evidence that Mackenzie Shirilla suffered from a pre-existing medical condition that could have caused her to black out while driving.”
They argued that her previous defense team failed to provide effective counsel and did not investigate the alleged pre-existing condition or call upon experts to testify.
They also noted in their appeal that her petition for post-conviction relief was filed “out of time” according to the trial court, but that her case “presents substantial constitutional questions and matters of great public and great general interest.“
Prosecutors counterargued in a May 14 filing that Shirilla miscalculated the due date, which is why it was missed. They said the defense’s appeal “fails to present an issue of public or great general interest,” and her claim “concerns only the untimely filing of a post-conviction petition due to the mistake of counsel.”
“The trial transcripts were filed in her direct appeal on October 23, 2023, triggering the 365-day statutory clock to file the petition,” the court determined. “Shirilla filed her petition on October 24, 2024, which is the same day that many of her exhibits were notarized. Because 2024 was a leap year, Shirilla’s petition was late by one day. The trial court properly denied her petition as untimely.”
Thriving in Prison
Shirilla was 17 at the time of the crash and is currently incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is expected to remain for the duration of her sentence. Her first parole hearing is in September 2037, with an expected release date of October 29, 2037.
Based on social media photos posted from inside the prison, Shirilla seems to be thriving, as a former inmate described her as a queen bee. She serves food to the other prisoners and prances around showing off her hickeys from recent hook-ups.
