Convicted double murderer Mackenzie Shirilla has launched a fresh bid for freedom, appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court while her supporters share new images of her from behind bars.

Shirilla, now 22, was found guilty in 2023 of murdering her boyfriend Dominic Russo, 20, and their friend Davion Flanagan, 19, after deliberately crashing a car into a building at close to 160km/h just days before her 18th birthday.

She is currently serving two concurrent sentences of 15 years to life at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, with her first opportunity for parole set for 2037.

This week, her legal team filed a motion asking the state’s highest court to reconsider its recent decision to reject her post-conviction relief petition, which is a last-ditch legal avenue used to challenge a conviction outside the standard appeals process.

The petition had been dismissed by an appellate court because it was lodged 366 days after the trial transcript was filed, missing the deadline by a single day. Her lawyers now argue the timing rules were unclear, pointing to delays in related juvenile court transcripts and a miscalculation linked to a leap year.

Shirilla’s team have posted a selfie to her Instagram, showing the 22-year-old behind bars. They captioned the post: ““Mackenzie is trying to do better every day and holding on to hope...Mackenzie and her family (along with everyone’s help) will respectfully continue to do everything they can so that the merits of the brief can be heard, just as anyone else would do in their position.”

Shirilla has exhausted multiple appeals through lower courts, all of which have been unsuccessful. Her defence has consistently argued she may have lost consciousness before the crash due to a medical condition known as Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), and that this possibility was not properly examined at trial.

Prosecutors, however, said the crash was deliberate. The court heard the car was travelling at about 160km/h in a 56km/h zone, with data showing the accelerator fully engaged for at least 4.6 seconds and no evidence of braking.

Surveillance footage captured the vehicle speeding down a suburban street before ploughing through a sign and into a commercial building in Strongsville, Ohio, in July 2022. The impact split the car in half, killing Russo and Flanagan almost instantly.

Shirilla survived with serious injuries and has previously described herself as a “third victim”.

Delivering her verdict, Judge Nancy Margaret Russo rejected the defence case, saying: “This was not reckless driving, this was murder.”

The case has recently returned to public attention following Netflix documentary The Crash and featuring interviews with Shirilla from prison.

Russo’s sister posted to social media last month after Shirilla’s appeal was denied saying, “appeal denied. #sorrynotsorry you are STILL a murderer. Not surprised at all.”

Christine has been an outspoken critic of coverage surrounding the case, previously calling out the “lies” in the documentary examining the incident.

She has also launched a petition pushing for “Dom’s Law”, aimed at preventing convicted offenders from profiting off their crimes once released from prison.

In the Change.com petition, Christine said the documentary had forced her family to relive the tragedy “again and again”.

“What hurts even more is seeing how modern social media culture allows violent offenders to gain attention, followers, donations, publicity, and influence from the crimes that destroyed families like mine,” she said.

“I started this petition to call on lawmakers to modernise these laws for the digital age and close the loopholes that allow convicted violent offenders to turn tragedy into personal gain.”

Earlier last month it was revealed Shirilla allegedly made a series of disturbing claims from behind bars, with a former inmate alleging the young murderer confessed she deliberately killed her boyfriend and his friend, despite publicly insisting the crash was not intentional.

Anastasia, a former inmate at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, told Daily Mail she was left “deeply disturbed” after spending time with Shirilla in prison.

“She said she was suicidal, but she almost looked as though she was enjoying (telling the story) - like she was amused by it,” Anastasia said.

According to the former inmate, Shirilla, who was jailed over the deadly crash that killed her boyfriend Dominic Russo and his friend Davion Flanagan, made chilling remarks about the incident.

“She said the devil made her do it,” Anastasia claimed.

“She said the devil was pressing on her foot... She wanted to make it sound like she was a little devil girl, and that this is what she intended to do. Like there was a reason that Dom had to die.”