CLEVELAND — Tuesday was day two in the trial of the Strongsville teen charged with murder in a deadly crash that occurred last July.
Mackenzie Shirilla, 19, faces multiple charges, including murder, felonious assault and aggravated vehicular homicide.
Shirilla, who was 17 at the time of the incident, is accused of intentionally crashing a vehicle with her 20-year-old boyfriend Dominic Russo and his 19-year-old friend Davion Flanagan in the car. Her two young passengers died.
The prosecution said she was going 100 miles per hour when she crashed into a building near the intersection of Progress Dr. and Alameda Dr. in northwest Strongsville at 6:15 a.m. on Sunday, July 31, 2022.
Tuesday, Shirilla's right arm was wrapped in a sling for the second day of the trial. Her family told 3News this is connected to her injury from the crash. She was also wearing the sling on Monday.
Dominic's mother, Christine Russo, took the stand, at times in tears as she recalled the death of her son.
She said she loved Shirilla, who lived with their family for a time, but that the relationship Shirilla had with her son was one of constant fighting and threats.
When Dominic's older brother, Angelo Russo, testified, he shared a similar sentiment, saying the couple broke up often. "I witnessed a lot of negative behavior from her to my brother and that just kind of pushed me away as a big brother figure because she just wasn't fair to him."
A Russo family friend also took the stand and testified that he had heard Shirilla threaten to crash a vehicle that she and Russo were in on Interstate 71 about two weeks before the fatal accident.
The prosecution presented that Shirilla's behavior toward Russo had become very hostile in the weeks before the crash, citing the I-71 incident above, and also playing a recording of Shirilla outside of his home in which it appears that she is threatening to key Russo's car.
"Are you threatening to key my car?" Russo is heard asking.
"I will key this car if you do not let me in the house," Shirilla is heard responding. "If you don't let me in the house, yes."
Shirilla's defense attorney James McDonnell made sure to emphasize that the fighting between Shirilla and Russo was mutual.
"They both fought each other, right?" he posed to Angelo Russo. "They argued. She's a 17-year-old kid and your brother is what? 20?"
McDonnell also said that in the hours before the crash, Shirilla and Russo were doing well. The host of the party they were at in those hours affirmed so when asked by McDonnell.
"You didn't see Dominic and Mackenzie fight at all?" McDonalle asked host Paul Burlinghaus.
"No," Burlinghaus responded.
"Everything seemed fine between them, right?"
"Yes."
"So, you saw them for six hours, no fighting. Everything was good, right?
"Yes."
During Christine Russo's testimony she was asked by the prosecution if Shirilla ever gave her more details at any time about the incident leading to Dominic's death.
"No, she's always maintained for those months that she does not remember," she told the courtroom.
Along with this question, the prosecution displayed a text message from Shirilla to Christine to the courtroom that said, "I remember turning onto the street and then my vision fades to black. It really kills me not being able to remember anything. I promise you I would tell you. 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."
Others that testified on Tuesday were a crime scene detective, an analyst with regional crash team Southwest Accident Group, one of Davion Flanagan's friends who was messaging with Flanagan in the hours before the crash, and the host of a graduation party who saw Shirilla, Russo, and Flanagan as her party the night before the fatal incident.
The crash team analyst, Sgt. Adam McQuaid, said about one second before the crash, the steering wheel made a hard right turn of 142.5 degrees.
When McDonnell questioned McQuaid, he made sure to get clarification that McQuaid did not know who turned the wheel.
"So, you don't know who or what caused that steering wheel to go in that direction?" he asked.
"I only know that the steeling wheel went in that direction," McQuaid responded.
McDonnell also asked about the side airbag that deployed in the moments before the crash, as a way to show the courtroom that its deployment could have led to an accidental crash.
"It's a pretty violent act, correct?" he asked McQuaid, in which he responded, "Right."
They also discussed the dust the airbag releases in the car.
"If you're anywhere in the car it's like a huge bane to you and dust and everything is all over, right?"
McQuaid responded, "Yes."
The prosecution told 3News they expect the trial to continue for at least two more days.
First up on the witness stand on Wednesday is Shirilla's trauma surgeon from MetroHealth.
When 3News asked the defense if any of Shirilla's family would be testifying, we were told, "that's a game time decision."
