Mackenzie Shirilla's alleged constitutional rights violation explained: Why murder conviction might overturn

Riddhee
Mackenzie Shirilla (Image via YouTube/@netflix)
Mackenzie Shirilla (Image via YouTube/@netflix)

The murder conviction of Mackenzie Shirilla might get overturned. Shirilla was sentenced to a 15 years to life in prison, which is supposed to be running concurrently for two counts of murder. She was convicted of four counts of murder, along with four counts of felonious assault, and lastly, two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide.

As she serves her time in prison, a new attorney who has joined Mackenzie Shirilla's legal team has filed a petition to overturn the conviction in federal court. The filing claims that Shirilla's constitutional rights were violated when her case was moved from juvenile court to adult court despite her being a minor when the crash occurred.


New filing in Mackenzie Shirilla case reveals alleged violation of constitutional rights

Mackenzie Shirilla was seventeen years old when she crashed her car with her then-boyfriend, Dominic Russo, and their friend, Davion Flanagan, in it. Her car had suddenly picked up speed, and she had crashed it into a building at a speed of over 100 km/h. Russo and Flanagan died in the crash while Shirilla sustained injuries.

Mackenzie Shirilla's case was moved from juvenile court to adult court where she was tried as an adult and then convicted. The new petition filed by Shirilla's legal team claims that it wasn't right to move her case to adult court when she was still a minor at the time of the crash. The petition thus claims that the case being tried in adult court followed by the conviction, violated Shirilla's constitutional rights.

That is one of the grounds on which the petition is appealing for the conviction to be overturned. The other ground is that Shirilla was given ineffective counsel by her previous legal counsel. The petition claims that Shirilla's earlier legal counsel had only claimed that she suffered from POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a syndrome that can make a person feel dizzy and even lead to them fainting.

Shirilla's new attorney claims in the petition that if her earlier counsel had presented expert testimony regarding her allegedly suffering from POTS, it could have proved that her actions were not intentional. The new petition also claims that a few pieces of evidence weren't admitted into the case, which could've proved her innocence.

As PEOPLE reports, one piece of evidence that the new petition claims wasn't admitted would've explained why Shirilla was at the residential area at dawn. According to PEOPLE, the petition states:

“defense had evidence that a local grocer had left a package of produce for [Mackenzie] at a 24-hour pickup spot at a store in the vicinity of the crash scene.”

This evidence, if it were admitted,

“would have provided an benign explanation for why [Mackenzie] was driving in this particular area that morning.”

Mackenzie Shirilla is currently incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville, Ohio. This new petition is her legal team's fourth attempt at appealing to overturn her conviction. It is yet to be known if any part of the conviction will be overturned and if it will affect her sentence.

Stay tuned for more updates.


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Edited by Riddhee