Conviction upheld for Strongsville woman found guilty of double murder of boyfriend and friend

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The conviction was upheld Thursday after an appeal from a 20-year-old convicted of the double murder of her boyfriend and friend in a 2022 car crash.

Mackenzie Shirilla, who was 17 at the time of the accident, was convicted in 2023 of the murders of her boyfriend Dominic Russo and his friend Davion Flanagan.

On Thursday, the case went to the appeals court, where Shirilla’s lawyers argued there was not enough evidence to support the convictions. The lawyers also argued that there were several clerical errors in Shirilla’s initial filing.

The trial before the Ohio Court of Appeals upheld the conviction at the original trial after the evidence was presented.

In 2023, Judge Margaret Russo of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas found Mackenzie Shirilla, 20, guilty of the following crimes:

• Four counts of murder
• Four counts of criminal assault
• Two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide
• One count of drug possession
• One count of possession of criminal tools

Shirilla was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors presented video of the crash during the bench trial, which began Aug. 7, 2023, and which Judge Russo commented on as she delivered the verdict.

“She goes from a responsible driver to a veritable hell on wheels as she moves down the street,” » said Judge Russo in reference to the video of the accident. “She had a mission and she executed it with precision.”

A social media video resurfaced in the days leading up to the sentencing hearing, purportedly posted by Shirilla, claiming that drugs and narcotics had no effect on her.