The legal battle involving 21-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla has taken another turn after the Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear her latest appeal, leaving in place a lower court’s decision that dismissed her post-conviction peтιтion as untimely.

In an entry filed on June 23, the court stated that it had reviewed the jurisdictional filings but declined to accept the case. The order was signed by Chief Justice Sharon L. Kennedy.

The decision comes as Shirilla’s case has returned to public attention following the release of Netflix’s documentary series, The Crash.

Shirilla is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life after being convicted of murdering her 20-year-old boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and his 19-year-old friend, Davion Flanagan.

Prosecutors argued that on July 31, 2022, Shirilla intentionally drove her Toyota Camry into a brick building in Strongsville, Ohio, with the intent of killing Russo. Flanagan, who was also inside the vehicle, was described by prosecutors as an unintended victim.

Following a bench trial, Shirilla was found guilty of four counts of murder, four counts of felonious ᴀssault, and two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Shirilla has consistently maintained that the crash was not intentional.

In their latest legal filing, her attorneys argued that her trial lawyers failed to fully investigate evidence that she suffered from Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), a medical condition they say could have caused her to lose consciousness before the crash.

According to the defense, the condition was mentioned only briefly during the trial, despite Shirilla and her family allegedly informing her legal team about her medical history. Her current attorneys argue that expert medical testimony should have been presented to determine whether POTS could explain why there was no evidence of braking before the collision.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office has rejected those claims.

In a statement released in May, Prosecutor Michael O’Malley’s office said it “believes without question that Mackenzie Shirilla is guilty of murder.”

Shirilla’s convictions were previously upheld on direct appeal in 2024. Her most recent post-conviction peтιтion, however, was dismissed because it was filed one day after the statutory ᴅᴇᴀᴅline.

Under Ohio law, post-conviction peтιтions generally must be filed within 365 days after the trial transcript is filed with the court of appeals. The appellate court determined that the transcript was filed on October 24, 2023, making October 23, 2024, the filing ᴅᴇᴀᴅline. Shirilla filed her peтιтion on October 24, 2024.

Her attorneys argued that the ᴅᴇᴀᴅline should have been calculated from the filing of juvenile bindover transcripts and also contended that the 2024 leap year affected the calculation.

The appellate court rejected both arguments, ruling that the statute specifically refers to the trial transcript—not supplemental juvenile records—and establishes a ᴅᴇᴀᴅline of 365 days rather than one calendar year.

The court also concluded that it lacked authority to excuse the late filing because the ᴅᴇᴀᴅline is jurisdictional and none of the statutory exceptions applied.

With the Ohio Supreme Court declining to review the case, the lower court’s ruling remains in effect, and Shirilla’s convictions and sentence remain unchanged.