The father of the boyfriend killed by Ohio teen Mackenzie Shirilla in a 100 mph crash has said she needs help, not life in prison.
Shirilla, 18, could face life with no possibility of parole until 2055 when she is sentenced in court on Monday for the murders of boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and passenger Davion Flanagan, 19.
She was driving the car at terrifying speed when it crashed into the wall of a building in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Strongsville on July 31 last year.
All three had smoked marijuana, and police also found magic mushrooms from the crime scene.
“She’s just a kid, her family has been destroyed too,” Dominic’s father Frank Russo, 61, told NBC News Friday.
Shirilla and Dominic Russo, the friend she killed. His father Frank Russo said she destroyed her family’s life as well
What remained of the car driven by Shirilla after the 100 mph crash that killed his passengers
The moment Shirilla learned she was convicted of murder
Prosecutors argued, and a judge agreed, that it was a deliberate murder by Shirilla, who had a turbulent relationship and had been overheard threatening her boyfriend in the past.
She and her family insisted it was an accident and she lost control of the car.
The court was shown a text message she sent to Dominic’s mother saying she needed hypnosis to remember it, Cleveland-based NBC affiliate WKYC reported.
“I remember turning into the street and my vision fading to black. It really pains me that I can’t remember anything.”
“I asked my therapist why I don’t remember and she said it was trauma, but I’m going to try to get hypnotized and remember myself.”
Mr. Russo told her to stop pretending she doesn’t remember the crash.
“I wish she would just tell us exactly what happened and that I would be willing to reduce the sentence.”
But Dominic’s oldest sister Christine Russo had less sympathy for Shirilla’s family.
Shirilla boasted on social media about her drug-fuelled exploits, but they led to the deaths of passenger Davion Flanagan and her boyfriend
Dominic Russo (left) with Shirilla and her family
The crash site showed the aftermath of the impact at a speed of 160 km/h
“All I have to say is she’s breathing,” she said.
“They can call her, they can tell her they love her. I would count them lucky. Were not.’
She described her brother as a fashion lover who adored her children.
“In every picture he’s hugging and kissing the kids, he loved them so much,” she said.
“He is so missed already. I would do anything to really get him back. It all really sucks. It’s really really heavy.
“Justice has been done, if you do something intentionally, you must pay for your deeds.
“But at the same time, it’s even worse now that it’s set in stone that my little brother, whose life was stolen, was deliberately taken away,” she added.
Flanagan’s mother, Jaime Flanagan, told WKYC after the verdict, “Not a day goes by that we don’t miss our son, and justice has been served for him today.
“But honestly, there are no winners here. There are no winners here today.’
His father, Scott Flanagan, insisted their family did not want “revenge.”
“Only justice for our son who was nothing more than 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, says she “completely disagrees” with the judge and hopes McDonnell will appeal on her daughter’s behalf.
At trial, Nathalie testified that Mackenzie suffers from postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, a condition that causes vertigo.
The condition, commonly abbreviated as POTS, is one of a group of conditions that reduce the volume of blood reaching the heart after a person 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.”
Mackenzie’s aunt also testified in his defense.
She refuted Dominic’s family’s claims that the relationship was turbulent and instead told the court that the two youths were deeply in love.
In the months immediately following the crash, the Shirilla family left an emotional tribute to Russo through an online obituary.
‘She loved you, we loved you. My whole family loved you. Forever in our hearts… forever,” they wrote.
She also left her own tribute.
“I miss you nug. I still feel like you could (sic) walk through the door at any minute.
“I miss your smile, your perfect smile.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo sentenced her Monday, calling her “literal hell on wheels” who was on a “mission of death”
“I feel your energy around me every day, I wish it was physical.”
But the court heard earlier recordings of her threatening to key in Dominic’s car and was told the pair had become particularly bitter in the weeks leading up to the crash.
As for Flanagan, Dominic’s boyfriend 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.