‘Hell on wheels’ killer Mackenzie Shirilla’s desperate last bid for freedom to get murder conviction thrown out

Convicted “Hell on Wheels” killer Mackenzie Shirilla has launched a desperate last bid for freedom as she tries to get her murder conviction tossed out. 

Shirilla’s lawyers filed a habeas corpus petition Tuesday on the grounds that her 2023 murder trial was unconstitutional, WJW reported. 

Shirilla, who is serving two concurrent 15-years-to-life sentences at the Ohio Reformatory for Women prison, had her Sixth Amendment rights violated, according to her lawyers.

Attorneys at Marein & Bradley LLC – the law firm now representing Shirilla – claimed the medical examiners who carried out the autopsies on her victims, boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and their 19-year-old pal Davion Flanagan, didn’t testify at the trial. 

A Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office pathologist testified in their place.

Under the Sixth Amendment, those on trial have a right to confront witnesses. But Shirilla’s lawyers didn’t raise the potential violation during her trial.

Shirilla was 17 when she crashed her car into a wall in Strongsville, Ohio, at 100 mph in 2022, and was dubbed “literal hell on wheels” by the judge when convicted.

She was a juvenile under state law at the time of the crash, but cases can be moved from juvenile to adult court if there’s probable cause that an offense such as murder has been committed.

Her team’s claiming that prosecutors failed to establish probable cause. 

Shirilla’s lawyers claimed prosecutors didn’t prove she acted recklessly, or “purposely or knowingly.”

Shirilla’s defense team also slammed attorneys from Friedman, Nemecek, Long & Grant, the legal firm that represented her originally. 

They have alluded to a medical condition, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, which could’ve caused her to lose consciousness at the time of the 100mph smash.

The lawyers claimed there were texts suggesting Russo was the “instigator” of the crash, without divulging further. Prosecutors initially said Shirilla wanted to murder Russo after their relationship seemed to fizzle out.

Her defense team also said the decision to reject a new trial was made in error.

Such petitions must be filed within 365 days of when a trial transcript is submitted, according to state law.

Shirilla’s petition was filed on Oct 24 2024 – but this was one day late because 2024 was a leap year.

In May 2025, Cuyahoga County Judge Nancy Margaret Russo, the same judge who found her guilty at her non-jury trial, ruled that the petition was invalid. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals later ruled to uphold Russo’s decision.

The lawyers also claimed the manner of the two deaths was changed from “accidental” to “homicide” improperly, WOIO reported.

No date has been set for the habeas corpus petition. 

Shirilla’s defense filed a motion with the Ohio Supreme Court regarding the case about her post-conviction appeal.

A motion is with the Eighth District Court of Appeals asking them to re-open her appeal case, but no decision has been made yet.

Shirilla’s first parole hearing is set for September 2037. She is also the subject of the hit Netflix documentary “The Crash.”