WJW-Strongsville, Ohio A Strongsville adolescent was given two concurrent life terms on Monday for the killings of her boyfriend and another man that occurred in July 2022.
Mackenzie Shirilla was found guilty in November on 12 counts total, including accusations of murder, extreme vehicular homicide, and cocaine possession, for a July 2022 crash that claimed the lives of her partner Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend Davion Flanagan, 19.
After 15 years, she’ll be able to apply for parole. Her driving privileges will also be permanently revoked.
Shirilla issued a succinct statement on Monday, saying, “I’m so deeply sorry.” “I would never have allowed this to happen or done it deliberately. All of us are pals, and Dom was my true love. I wish I could ease all of your suffering. My apologies.
Shirilla, who was 17 at the time, pushed on the throttle, sped down a dead-end street in a Strongsville industrial park, and willfully crashed into a brick wall, killing Russo and Flanagan, according to evidence presented by Cuyahoga County prosecutors as proof that Shirilla intentionally caused the early July 31, 2022, collision.
At her Monday sentence, prosecutors said Shirilla requested if the authorities “could just suspend her license for 10 years” shortly after the high-speed collision, a move they claimed revealed her “shocking lack of remorse” after their deaths.
Shirilla and her mother said to police they were looking for work with a Los Angeles modeling agency during Shirilla’s weeks-long hospital stay after the accident, according to the prosecution.
Shirilla was then seen enjoying Halloween and going to a concert in Cleveland’s Flats region on social media, months after the collision and before she was legally accused.
Angelo Russo referred to Shirilla as “the most selfish” person he knows, while his younger brother Dom was described as the “most selfless.”
“The friends in this courtroom would also say Dom was their best friend,” he added. “Dom was my best friend.”
Judge Russo cited video evidence showing the car Shirilla was driving racing down the street at close to 100 mph immediately before the collision when she found Shirilla guilty on all 12 charges earlier this month.
The exhibit’s audiovisual elements are unforgettable. She stated earlier this month that it was frightful and heartbreaking.
Despite feeling as if she “lost three children” in the collision, Dominic’s mother Christine said that she never stops thinking about her son.
“The suffering never goes away. The wound won’t get better with time. Because of what you did, Mackenzie, you’re going to jail, she said. “Give thanks for your continued existence and the future you will have, whatever it may hold. Their futures, as well as their ambitions and dreams, were stolen from Dominic and Davion.
According to Flanagan’s mother Jaime, he intended to enroll in barber school and launch his own barbershop.
She described her adoptive son as “an amazing soul with a heart of gold” who was given as much love as he got. “The kind of love would rescue a friend in the middle of the night, no questions asked; the kind that would protect friends and honor them,” she added.
Davyne, Flanagan’s younger sister whom he adopted in 2012, described her older brother as a source of safety and trust. She said it was unjust that Shirilla would eventually be released from prison “while my brother will be gone forever.”
She has always chosen the easy path out, according to the three years I’ve known her, she said on Monday in court.
After the fatal accident, Shirilla’s mother Natalie told the court on Monday that she pushed her daughter to go out for Halloween so that she could treat herself to some fun despite the catastrophe.
Natalie urged the court for mercy and concurrent punishment, alleging that the collision was a “tragic accident” that her daughter had no recollection of.
The woman said, “I just want to say to the families, I’m broken, sad, and lost.”
Shirilla’s defense lawyer, James McDonnell of Cleveland, argued throughout the trial that the collision was reckless homicide and that no one knows what occurred inside that automobile in an effort to avoid giving the lady a life sentence on the double murder charge.
McDonnell said he disagreed with the prosecution’s assertion that Shirilla had not shown regret.
He added, “All I can say is that from the first minute I saw this young girl here, she exhibited grief. I am extremely confident in stating that she has shown genuine contrition in my capacity as an officer of the court.
When Shirilla was sentenced, the majority of her charges were combined into her murder counts. Judge Nancy Margaret Russo only had to determine Monday whether the offenses would be served concurrently or separately since the statutory punishments for each crime ranged from 15 years to life. Choosing the latter, Judge Russo.
Having recently been responsible for the deaths of two individuals, Judge Russo said it was difficult to see how someone could be worried about losing their driving rights.
