UMVA has learned that Mackenzie Shirilla, the convicted killer behind a fatal 2022 crash, has secured a prison job while serving a life sentence for the tragic incident that claimed the lives of her boyfriend and their friend.
Shirilla's new role is that of a food service worker at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, a glimpse into her daily prison life that has emerged amid renewed attention on the case following a Netflix documentary that revisited the fatal wreck.
According to information obtained by UMVA, Shirilla, now 21, is serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life in prison for killing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, after deliberately slamming her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio.
The devastating crash occurred on July 31, 2022, when Shirilla, then 17, was driving at a speed of 90 mph in a 35 mph zone, with the accelerator fully engaged and no service brake applied in the seconds before the impact.
Prosecutors argued that Shirilla drove into the building to end her toxic relationship with Russo, and that Flanagan was an unintended victim who happened to be in the car, a claim that has been revisited in the wake of a Netflix docuseries that has brought the case back into the limelight.
Shirilla's lawyers have asked the Ohio Supreme Court for an appeal, arguing that her trial lawyers failed to adequately investigate evidence that she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS, a condition that could have caused her to lose consciousness before the crash.
The defense claims that the condition was only briefly mentioned at trial, despite Shirilla and her family allegedly informing her attorneys about it, and that trial counsel should have dug deeper and sought expert testimony to explain whether POTS could account for Shirilla's failure to brake before impact.
However, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office remains convinced of Shirilla's guilt, stating that they believe without question that she is guilty of murder, a stance that is likely to be a major obstacle in her bid for an appeal.
