(WJW) STRONGSVILLE, Ohio — A teenager from Strongsville got two life terms on Monday, 21 August, 2023, for killing her boyfriend and another man in July 2022. Both sentences will be served at the same time.
Mackenzie Shirilla was found guilty earlier this month on 12 charges, including murder, aggravated vehicle homicide, and drug possession, for a crash in July 2022 that killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, who was 20 years old, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, who was 19 years old.
After 15 years, she will be able to get out of jail. Also, her ability to drive will be taken away for good.
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Strongsville Teen Charged With Double Murder in July 2022
The trial of the Strongsville teen charged with murder in a deadly crash that killed her boyfriend and his friend continued today. It was very emotional in the courtroom as the prosecution played video of the high-speed crash and showed autopsy photos.https://t.co/ugShffgZf2
— Kaitor Kay (@kaitorkay) August 10, 2023
A Statement record of Shirilla Strongsville teen by Fox8.com given below-
“I’m so deeply sorry,” Shirilla said in a brief statement on Monday. “I would never let this happen or do it on purpose. We are all friends and Dom was my soulmate. I wish I could take all your pain away. I’m so sorry.”
Cuyahoga County prosecutors proved Shirilla intentionally caused the early July 31, 2022, crash, and that evidence showed the then-17-year-old slammed on the gas, speeding along a dead-end street in a Strongsville business park, purposely slamming into a brick wall, killing Russo and Flanagan.
At her sentencing Monday, prosecutors said Shirilla soon after the high-speed crash asked if authorities “could just suspend her license for 10 years” — perspective they said showed Shirilla’s “shocking lack of remorse” following their deaths.
During Shirilla’s weeks-long hospitalization following the crash, investigators were told she and her mother were seeking employment with a Los Angeles-based modeling agency, prosecutors said.
Then, months after the crash and before she was formally charged, Shirilla could be seen on social media posts celebrating Halloween, and attending a concert in Cleveland’s Flats district.
Angelo Russo called his little brother Dom the most “selfless” person he knows — while Shirilla is “the most selfish.”
“Dom was my best friend and the friends in this courtroom would also say Dom was their best friend,” he said.
Dominic’s mother Christine said it was like she “lost three children” in the crash — but that her son is always on her mind.
“The pain is forevermore. Time does not heal this wound. Mackenzie, you’re going to prison because you did this,” she said. “Be thankful you’re still alive and have a future — whatever that may be. Dominic and Davion were robbed of their futures — their hopes and their dreams.”
Flanagan was planning to go to barber school and open his own barbershop, his mother Jaime said Monday.
She called her adopted son “an amazing soul with a heart of gold” who received as much love as he gave — “the kind of love that would rescue a friend in the middle of the night, no questions asked; the kind that would protect friends and honor them,” she said.
Flanagan’s little sister Davyne — adopted with him in 2012 — called her big brother a role model, and a source of safety and trust. She said it was unfair that Shirilla may one day be paroled “while my brother will be gone forever.”
“I would like you to give Mackenzie the longest possible sentence. I have known her for three years and she’s always taken the easy way out,” she told the court on Monday.
Shirilla’s mother Natalie on Monday told the court she urged her daughter to go out for Halloween after the deadly crash, pushing her to afford herself some enjoyment in spite of the tragedy.
Natalie begged the judge for leniency and concurrent sentencing, claiming the crash was a “tragic accident” — one of which her daughter has no memory.
“I just want to say to the families that I’m broken, sad and lost,” she said.
Shirilla’s defense attorney James McDonnell of Cleveland tried to spare the woman a life sentence on the double murder charge, arguing during trial that the crash was reckless homicide, and that no one knows what happened inside that car.
Though prosecutors claimed Shirilla has shown no remorse, McDonnell said he disagreed.
Stay tuned to our website usacharged.com.com for more updates.
