Convicted double murderer Mackenzie Shirilla has shared a new prison selfie on social media, striking a sombre pose as her legal team continues its latest effort to persuade the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider her appeal.
The photograph, uploaded by Shirilla to her Instagram page on Tuesday, depicts the 21-year-old woman posing against a wall at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, her lips pursed as she looks directly into the camera. The caption from her “support team” reads, “Trying to do better every day and keeping hope alive.”
The selfie was posted hours after Shirilla’s lawyer filed a motion asking the state’s highest court to reconsider its June 23 decision declining to review her appeal. Her post-conviction relief filing was found to be one day late relative to the 365 days allowed by statute, an error caused by failing to take into account that 2024 is a leap year.
Shirilla had been convicted in 2023 of murder when she deliberately rammed her car into a building travelling at over 100 mph, killing her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, age 20, and her friend, Davion Flanagan, age 19. She had been sentenced to 15 years to life imprisonment, with her first parole hearing due in September 2037.
On Tuesday’s filing, attorneys John T. Martin and Steven L. Bradley argued that Ohio’s appellate districts enforce filing deadlines inconsistently, citing cases in other districts enforce filing deadlines inconsistently, citing cases in other districts where similar late petitions were accepted.
This case has once again gained popularity after the launch of the Netflix documentary in the month of May, which was the most viewed movie in two successive weeks on the streaming platform.
However, it is not clear if the Supreme Court of Ohio will respond to the latest call for reconsideration. Justice R. Patrick DeWine dissented from the previous verdict of the court.
