Mackenzie Shirilla has been found guilty of murder after the teen killer deliberately drove a car into the side of a building which would kill Dominic Russo, 20, and Davion Flanagan, 19.
According to court documents Mackenzie Shirilla,17, her boyfriend Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan would smoke marijuana before the trio jumped into a car with Mackenzie at the wheel. Shirilla would drive in excess of one hundred miles per hour and drove straight into the side of a building killing Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan
Mackenzie Shirilla would tell police that the car crash was an accident however video footage would tell a different story. Shirilla would be charged with murder, aggravated vehicular homicide and felonious assault
Mackenzie Shirilla would go to trial where she would be found guilty and now faces an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for fifteen years
Mackenzie Shirilla Other News
An Ohio judge found a teenager guilty of murder, ruling she intentionally drove her car into a brick building at 100 mph to kill her boyfriend and another passenger.
On Monday, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Nancy Margaret Russo found Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, of Strongsville, guilty on all 12 charges she faced including murder, aggravated vehicular homicide, felonious assault and drug possession for a 2022 crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, 20, and a friend, Davion Flanagan, 19, according to the prosecutor’s office.
The conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years, Cleveland.com reports.
Shirilla sobbed uncontrollably as the judge addressed the court, 3News reports.
“This was not reckless driving,” Russo said just before she handed down her verdict Monday, 3News reports. “This was murder.”
“She had a mission and she executed it with precision,” said Russo, who is not related to the victim. “The decision was death.”
According to Strongsville Police, in the early morning hours of July 31, 2022, Shirilla was driving a 2018 Toyota Camry with Russo in the front seat and Flanagan in the back seat.
The three had allegedly been smoking marijuana at a friend’s home before she got behind the wheel, Cleveland.com reports.
Shirilla allegedly had THC in her system that exceeded the legal limit in Ohio, Cleveland.com reports.
She was not charged with driving under the influence, but with murder.
According to surveillance video prosecutors showed in court, Shirilla was seen driving on Progress Drive in the Progress Drive Business Park at a normal speed.
When she turned onto Alameda Drive, she became “literal hell on wheels,” the judge said.
Shirilla was seen accelerating before jerking the wheel to the right and left before slamming into a brick building at 100 mph, leaving her and her passengers trapped in the twisted metal wreckage.
Her fuzzy Prada slipper was stuck to the gas pedal, Cleveland.com reports
“The intent was obvious upon seeing that video that there was only one goal, and the computer demonstrated that there was no attempt to slow down or stop — that it was full speed into a building and tragically it cost two people their lives,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said after the verdict came down, 3News reports.
Prosecutors maintained that Shirilla wanted to end her turbulent relationship with Russo, 3 News reports.
“There is no doubt that this happened because of the relationship with Dominic and the defendant’s intent was clearly to end that, and she took everybody that was in the car with her,” O’Malley said, 3News reports.
Russo and Flanagan were pronounced dead at the scene. Shirilla was unconscious and not breathing when she was found trapped inside the car with the others, 3News reports.
Shirilla’s attorney James McDonnell could not be reached for comment. But in court, he said prosecutors never proved that she intentionally crashed the car and that she could have lost control of the vehicle. “It’s not clear, it’s not explicit to draw the inference that she acted purposely,” McDonnell told the judge, Fox 8 reports.
Shirilla’s mother said her daughter will appeal her conviction.
GoFundMe accounts were started in memory of Flanagan and Russo after their deaths.
https://people.com/teen-intentionally-crashed-car-wall-100-mph-kill-boyfriend-7643757