DOUBLE killer Mackenzie Shirilla has resurfaced on Instagram with a pouting selfie as she launches another bid to overturn her murder convictions.
The 21-year-old killed her boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, when she drove into a brick wall at around 100mph in Strongsville, Ohio, in 2022.
She was sentenced to 15 years to life following a bench trial, and interest in the case surged after the release of the Netflix documentary, The Crash, in which she broke her silence from behind bars.
Prosecutors argued the evidence showed Shirilla deliberately kept her foot on the accelerator and never attempted to brake before hitting the building.
She has consistently maintained her innocence, claiming again in the film that she blacked out and has no memory of what happened.
Despite multiple failed appeals, Shirilla is once again pushing for a new trial.
Her attorneys are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to revive her latest legal challenge after lower court judges rejected her post-conviction relief petition over a filing deadline.
As the legal battle continues, her team has shared a fresh photograph on social media.
Shirilla is seen in the snap with flushed cheeks, styled hair, and lip gloss as she pouts for the camera.
She is wearing a navy blue top and appears to be in a common area at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, where she is serving her sentence.
In the accompanying caption, her team wrote, “Mackenzie is trying to do better every day and holding on to hope. Her post conviction relief was denied due to a deadline technicality.
“The decision has nothing to do with the contents of it, it was unable to even be reviewed.
“Her appellate lawyer missed a deadline by filing it one day late due to a leap year, which also makes HIM ineffective assistance of council (sic).
“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 (sic).”
The post was shared to Shirilla’s 55,000 Instagram followers but the comments have been turned off.
Her attorneys argue her petition was dismissed on a technicality after it was submitted 366 days after the trial transcript was filed — just one day beyond the legal limit.
The filing came after the state’s highest court refused to hear her case in May 2025, following a string of unsuccessful appeals in the lower courts.
Post-conviction relief is a separate legal process that allows a defendant to challenge a conviction or sentence after the direct appeals process has been exhausted, and it represented Shirilla’s final remaining avenue to overturn her conviction.
In a motion filed Tuesday, her lawyers urged the court to reconsider, arguing the statutory deadlines were ambiguous and led to confusion over when the petition was due.
Shirilla is not eligible for parole until 2037 and although it’s unlikely her appeal will be successful, Dominic’s sister, Christine Russo, told The U.S. Sun she still lives in fear she could be released.
“I guess it weighs in the back of our minds at all times, you know? And she won’t stop the appeals,” she said.
“I know she’s not getting out. We know she’s guilty, but you never know with … I’m not an attorney, so if there’s some kind of legal technicality or something weird [she could end up being released].”
Delivering her verdict in court, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo insisted at the time, “This was not reckless driving, this was murder.”
