Mackenzie Shirilla’s fight to overturn her conviction has hit another hurdle, with Ohio prosecutors asking the state’s highest court to reject her latest appeal request
What did prosecutors say?
According to TMZ, in new legal documents, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office has asked the Supreme Court of Ohio to reject Shirilla’s motion for reconsideration. The prosecutors argue that she has not brought up even one new issue that would need another look at her case.
Prosecutors accept that reconsideration can be used to fix a decision that is later found to be wrong, but they say it cannot be used just because someone wants to reargue their case. “What new material issue does Mackenzie Shirilla bring to this Court’s attention? None. In fact, Shirilla more than once directs the Court to arguments already briefed in her ‘previously filed memorandum in support of jurisdiction,’” prosecutors said in the documents, according to TMZ.
As per TMZ, prosecutors kept pointing the judges back to arguments that were already made before the court refused to hear her appeal last month. Shirilla has also asked the court to at least consider one of her four arguments if it won’t hear all of them but prosecutors said the judges already had that choice when they rejected her case earlier.
The state finished its response with a sharp comment about geography, writing, “Creating a new, Shirilla-specific exception is a matter for Broad Street, not Front Street.”
Also Read: Mackenzie Shirilla update: Where is she now after the double murder conviction?
Why is Mackenzie Shirilla appealing again?
According to People, the Ohio Supreme Court rejected Shirilla’s latest appeal on June 23 after ruling that her legal team filed the petition one day after the legal deadline.
On July 7, her lawyers filed a motion asking the court to reconsider that decision, arguing that the filing deadlines were confusing, according to court documents cited by WOIO, WKYC and WJW.
The same day, Shirilla’s support team shared a new photo of her on Instagram from the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is serving her sentence.
The post said, “Mackenzie and her family (along with everyone’s help) will respectfully continue to do everything they can so that the merits of the brief can be heard, just as anyone else would do in their position.”
“Keep sharing everything you can and Please sign and share this petition for a fair re-trial. We ALL deserve fair representation and once you review her case you’ll agree she did not get that. Please click, sign, and share the petition in her bio. – Mackenzie Shirilla’s Support Team #freemackenzie #mackenzieshirilla #wrongfullyconvicted #thecrash,” it added.
Also Read: Mackenzie Shirilla’s chilling jail nickname revealed by ex-girlfriend after fatal crash case; ‘she’s not a good person’
What happened on the night of the crash
In the early hours of July 31, 2022, 17-year-old Mackenzie Shirilla was driving a 2018 Toyota Camry in Strongsville, Ohio, with her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and his friend Davion Flanagan, 19. The three had spent the night at a friend’s house and left around 5:30am, according to People. Minutes later, Shirilla’s car hit a brick wall at nearly 100 mph on a road with a 35 mph limit, the report said. Russo and Flanagan died at the scene, while Shirilla was found unconscious and taken to the hospital with serious injuries, per People.
Investigators later found the car’s accelerator was fully pressed with no brake used in the 4.6 seconds before the crash. A forensic expert also found no mechanical or electrical failure that could have caused the car to lose control and Shirilla was found to be under the influence of marijuana and carrying psychedelic mushrooms at the time, according to court documents cited by People.