The father of murdered boyfriend begs for help, not life sentence for Ohio teen
By Dominic Yeatman For Dailymail.Com
21:40 18 Aug 2023, updated 22:52 18 Aug 2023
Frank Russo, father of murdered boyfriend, pleads for help
- Frank Russo, 61, the dad of murdered boyfriend says Shirilla has ruined her family’s lives too
- Grieving dad wants sentence reduced if she shows honesty
- But boyfriend’s sister Christine insists Shirilla should ‘pay for her actions’
The father of the boyfriend murdered by Ohio teen Mackenzie Shirilla in a 100mph crash has said she needs help and not a life sentence.
Shirilla, 18, could face life with no possibility of parole until 2055 when she is sentenced in court on Monday for the murder of boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and passenger Davion Flanagan, 19.
She was driving the car at terrifying speed at 5.30am when it hit the wall of a building in the Strongsville suburb of Cleveland, Ohio on July 31 last year.
All three had been smoking marijuana and cops also recovered magic mushrooms from the scene.
‘She’s just a kid, her family’s destroyed too,’ Dominic’s father Frank Russo, 61, told NBC News Friday.
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Details of the incident
Prosecutors argued, and a judge agreed, that it was a deliberate act of murder by Shirilla, who was in a turbulent relationship and who’d been overheard threatening her boyfriend in the past.
She and her family insisted it was an accident and that she lost control of the car.
The court was shown a text she had sent to Dominic’s mother saying she would needed hypnotism to remember it, NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland reported.
‘I remember turning onto the street and then my vision fades to black. It really kills me not being able to remember anything,’ it read.
‘I’ve been asking my therapist why I don’t remember and she said it’s because of trauma but I’m gonna try to go get hypnotized and make myself remember.’
Mr Russo said she should stop pretending she does not remember the crash.
‘I wish she would just tell us what exactly happened and I’d be willing to reduce the sentence.’
But Dominic’s eldest sister Christine Russo had less sympathy for Shirilla’s family.
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Final verdict and family reactions
Flanagan’s mother, Jaime Flanagan, told WKYC after the verdict: ‘There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t miss our son, and justice was served for him today.
‘But honestly there’s no winners here. There’s no winners here today.’
His father, Scott Flanagan insisted their family did not want ‘vengeance’.
‘Only justice for our son who was nothing more that an innocent passenger looking for a ride home.’
Since Monday’s verdict, Shirilla’s attorney James McDonnell has repeatedly declined to comment.
Her mother, Nathalie, said she ‘completely disagrees’ with the judge, and hopes McDonnell will file an appeal on behalf of her daughter.
During the trial, Nathalie testified that Mackenzie suffers from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a condition that causes dizziness.
The condition, commonly abbreviated POTS, is one of a group of conditions that reduces the volume of blood that reaches the heart after an individual stands up.
The most common symptom is light-headedness or dizziness.
When asked if that could have caused the crash, her mother said: ‘It could be.’
Mackenzie’s aunt also testified in her defense.
She refuted claims by Dominic’s family that the relationship was turbulent, telling the court instead that the two youngsters were very much in love.
In the months immediately after the crash, the Shirilla family left emotional tributes to Russo on an online obituary.
‘She loved you, we loved you. My whole family loved you. Forever in our hearts…forever,’ they wrote.
She too left her own tributes.
‘I miss you nug. I still feel like your [sic] just going to walk in the door any second.
‘I miss your laugh your perfect smile.’
‘I feel your energy around me every day I just wish it was physical.’
But the court heard previous recordings of her threatening to key Dominic’s car and was told the pair had become particularly acrimonious in the weeks leading up to the crash.
As for Flanagan, Dominic’s friend who was also killed, prosecutors said he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police said there was extensive evidence of reckless driving on Mackenzie’s social media pages, where she posed with cigarettes or alcohol behind the wheel.