Mackenzie Shirilla has formally requested that her 2023 murder convictions be overturned.
Us confirmed on Wednesday, July 29, that Shirilla’s legal team recently filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, arguing her rights were violated during her original trial after key evidence in her defense was allegedly excluded improperly.
Netflix’s 2026 documentary The Crash explored the July 2022 car crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and high school friend Davion Flanagan in Strongsville, Ohio. Shirilla, 21, was accused of purposefully driving her Toyota Camry at speeds in excess of 100 mph into a brick wall. She was the only one to survive despite sustaining severe injuries.
Shirilla was convicted in a 2023 bench trial of 12 felony charges, including murder, and ordered to serve two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life imprisonment. She has always maintained her innocence, with her lawyers suggesting at trial that the crash may have been caused by a medical episode.
Mackenzie Shirilla referred to herself as the “third victim” of the fatal car crash that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend Davion Flanagan while she was behind the wheel. Shirilla, 21, made the comment while speaking to her mother, Natalie Shirilla, during a phone call from the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center. At the […]
In June, the Ohio Supreme Court declined a request to review Shirilla’s post-appeal conviction because a “trial court correctly determined it was without jurisdiction to consider the petition.”
Shirilla’s new legal team has nevertheless continued to pursue appeal efforts, with a federal petition — filed on Tuesday, July 28 — based around their contention that relevant evidence was wrongfully excluded at trial and that there was insufficient evidence to prove probable cause in Shirilla’s conviction.
Her lawyers are arguing that Shirilla had ineffective counsel at trial. (Shirilla recently hired a new team of lawyers to pursue her appeal.)
This latest appeal hinges on a possible explanation for why Shirilla was driving in the Strongsville, Ohio, area in the late-night hours of July 31, 2022.
Mackenzie Shirilla in 2026 Courtesy Instagram / Mackenzie Shirilla
“The prosecution theorized that the location was intended to be private in order for Shirilla to crash the vehicle without immediate attention,” her lawyers noted. “But the defense had evidence that a local grocer had left a package of produce for Shirilla at a 24-hour pickup spot at a store located in the vicinity of the crash scene.”
They continued, “This would have provided a benign explanation for why Shirilla was driving in this particular area that morning; evidence not presented by the defendant even though the grocer testified about other matters.”
Her legal team additionally alleged that Shirilla’s rights were violated when her case was improperly transferred from juvenile court to adult court despite her status as a minor at the time.
Following her 2023 conviction, Shirilla has served her sentence at the Ohio Reformatory for Women prison in Marysville, Ohio.
Us exclusively reported in May that Shirilla has faced punishments for multiple infractions during her time behind bars.
In one instance, she was banned from video visits for a period of 60 days for allegedly “show[ing] her breast” to a video visitor. Prison officials observed that the unnamed visitor “show[ed] her breast with a dildo sticking out of her pants twice” in that same call.
Shirilla was also separately cited for possession of both altered clothing and four “nude magazine pictures,” among a litany of other infractions.
Earlier this month, Us learned that Shirilla was once again investigated for posting a new selfie from inside the prison. An Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction rep later clarified that Shirilla would not face any punishment because she’d sent the photo of herself to a family member through a tablet called ViaPeth, which inmates use to stay connected to loved ones.
