Ohio Supreme Court declines Mackenzie Shirilla's appeal for new trial in murder case
The Ohio Supreme Court's decision comes amid renewed attention on the 2022 deadly crash case following the release of the Netflix documentary "The Crash."
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — The Supreme Court of Ohio has once again declined to hear the appeal of Mackenzie Shirilla, who was requesting a new trial after being convicted for the murder of two people following a crash in 2022.
The case received nationwide attention after it was featured in the Netflix documentary "The Crash."
Case and appeal background
Shirilla's case went to the Ohio Supreme Court after the Eighth District Court of Appeals, in March, upheld a prior ruling denying her request for a new trial, holding that her legal team waited too long to file its supplemental post-conviction relief petition.
Last May, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, the same judge who found Shirilla guilty in a 2023 bench trial of killing her boyfriend Dominic Russo (no relation to the judge) and their friend Davion Flanagan in a crash, sided with the prosecution in calling the petition invalid. Shirilla's lawyers made the PCR request on Oct. 24, 2024 — just one day after the deadline that was mandated by Ohio law.
"The court finds the state's position well-taken, to wit: that the defendant's petition is time-barred as a matter of law, having been filed past the statutory deadline," Russo wrote in her decision. "As the filing by defendant was untimely, this court is without jurisdiction to consider the merits or arguments of any of the pleadings. Therefore, as the defendant's petition is statutorily time-barred and filed out of rule, the court denies the petition for post-conviction relief."
In a ruling filed on March 12, the Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with Russo's reasoning.
"Shirilla’s postconviction relief petition was filed on the 366th day following the filing of her trial transcript. Accordingly, we find that the trial court correctly determined it was without jurisdiction to consider the petition," wrote Judge Anita Laster Mays.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Shirilla's conviction in September 2024 in a separate case, and in April 2025, the Supreme Court of Ohio declined to even take up the matter. Shirilla's attorneys told 3News that the filing was based on allegations that the coroner's report for the crash was modified without adhering to proper protocol.
Shirilla, who was just 17 at the time of the wreck but criminally tried as an adult, was found guilty of all counts, including four counts of murder, four counts of felonious assault and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. She is currently serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
Impact of Shirilla case
The case of Shirilla has been thrust into the national spotlight over the past few weeks following the release of the Netflix documentary, "The Crash," which was the most-watched film on the streaming service for two consecutive weeks. In its second week on Netflix, "The Crash" had 27.6 million views.
Earlier this month, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland announced that Mackenzie Shirilla's father, Steve, would not be returning to his teaching job at Mary Queen of Peace School in Cleveland. On May 18, a family member told 3News that he had been placed on leave from his duties as an art and digital media teacher with the diocese saying at the time that it was "investigating allegations made on social media that one of its teachers has demonstrated poor judgement."
The release of "The Crash" also resulted in a major records release from Strongsville police. The records provide the public with access to hours of police video, jail phone calls, and nearly 93,000 text messages between Shirilla and her boyfriend, Dominic Russo — evidence used during the 2023 trial.
3News also learned that Shirilla has racked up 36 prison conduct reports nearly three years into her prison sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville. Records show Shirilla was found guilty in 32 cases and not guilty in three, while one disposition was not listed.
DISCLOSURE: Shirilla's father, Steve, is a former WKYC employee. He did not work in the news department during his time with the station.
WKYC's Lynna Lai and Hunter Bertram contributed to this report.
