“This was not reckless driving. This was murder,” the judge said before she read out Mackenzie Shirilla’s verdict Monday afternoon.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    The reason why they say this was murder:

    Two weeks before the crash, she allegedly threatened to crash her vehicle when she was driving with Russo because she was upset over a disagreement they had. Russo called his mother and asked to be picked up, and a friend ended up retrieving him. In a phone call with Russo, the friend allegedly overheard Shirilla say, “I will crash this car right now,” prosecutors said in court documents.

    This isn’t a drunk driver, or a thrillseeker, this is someone with murderous intent.

      • The dogspaw @midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        I agree 100 percent this is a child with some kind of inability to understand the consequences of her actions she should be placed in a care facility until she demonstrates the ability to make proper decision making ability

      • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        In most US jurisdictions if you’re “just” trying to commit a felony, like purposely crashing your car at 100+ MPH (160+ KPH) to cause grievous bodily harm to others, and someone dies as a result that’s automatically elevated to murder.

      • JoBo@feddit.uk
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        It’ll depend on the jurisdiction. But ‘intent’ for murder does not mean “pre-planned”. Heat of the moment intention to do serious harm is enough for a murder conviction in the UK (and, I believe, the US).

        In this case, the prosecution accused her of pre-planning as well as intent, and the jury agreed with one or both arguments.

        Russo, the judge, delivered a scalding description of the case before she read out the verdict, saying Shirilla had a “mission” she executed with “precision” that fateful day — and “the mission was death.”

        “The [crash] video clearly shows the purpose and intent of the defendant. She chose a course of death and destruction that day,” Russo said.

        “She morphs from a responsible driver to literal hell on wheels as she makes her way down the street,” Russo said, saying Shirilla made a calculated decision to drive that morning, when not many people would be around, on an obscure route she did not routinely take.

        Prosecutor Michael O’Malley told NBC affiliate WKYC of Cleveland that the crash video was damning, saying, “The intent was obvious upon seeing that video that there was only one goal.”

      • ZodiacSF1969@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        Murder laws can vary by country.

        She murdered two people with the intent to at least cause significant harm. That’s enough on the state she was in, thank God. She deserves life in prison.

          • Fuck_u_spez_@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            There are cases of mutual murderer/suicide pacts where there’s shared responsibility and actions taken by each party but that wouldn’t have been possible when she was the only one in control of the car. Even if the boyfriend was suicidal, and there’s no reason to think he was from this article, the other passenger clearly wasn’t. IANAL either but I think that’s what the above comment was trying to get at.

            • CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              You can’t consent to murder

              Genuine question - why not? If someone wants to be murdered, for whatever reason, would that not be them consenting?

      • JoBo@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        It sounds much more like an abusive relationship. She was trying to punish him, regardless of the risk to herself.

          • JoBo@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Honestly, it’s very very similar. AFAICT she was trying to punish him. It has all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship. And an all too common outcome.

      • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        If you’re trying to kill others along with you, it’s not just suicide, it’s also murder.

      • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        This is why suicidal people are dangerous, it’s a relatively small change from killing yourself, to killing others.

        • zaph@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          This is why pastry chefs are dangerous, it’s a relatively small change from baking your bread, to baking others.

          • Yepthatsme@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            This is why being baked while baking with a baker is dangerous. You get too baked and you might get baked by the baker for making bad cakes.

        • quicksand@lemm.ee
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          No there may be a small chance of collateral damage, such as this case. But suicidal thinking does not make you think of killing others. You’re clearly lucky enough to have never had suicidal ideation, but it never comes near the kind of thoughts that want to kill others

          • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            It changes when it comes to acting. If you have the gun to your head, shooting someone telling you to stop is also highly likely.

          • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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            As such, it is clear that suicides tend to have high levels of aggressive–destructive impulsive behaviours, generally referred to as impulsive–aggressive behaviours. These have been operationally defined in suicide studies as a tendency to react with animosity or overt hostility without consideration to possible consequences, when piqued or under stress.

            https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1277022/

            • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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              1 year ago

              Did you read anything else in that paper…? The words around that statement? Even the abstract?

              Or did you google what you wanted to see and post the result, because that paper is not about people harming others whilst attempting suicide. It is barely tangentially about that.

              (it’s about the impact of aggressive-impulsive tendencies on the suicide…r themselves)

  • 18-24-61-B-17-17-4@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Fucking hell that is horrible. And of course she’s the only one to survive. 100mph into a brick building has probably left her pretty physically fucked up and in constant pain. Hope she enjoys feeling that way in prison for the rest of her life.

  • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Wow the way she’s crying is disgusting, she’s just sorry for herself not for the deaths she caused. No remorse, only regret for getting sentenced

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.world
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      Wow the way she’s crying is disgusting, she’s just sorry for herself not for the deaths she caused. No remorse, only regret for getting sentenced

      How do you know that? I don’t know about you but I’ve done things in anger that I felt genuine remorse for later.

      Never killed anyone though, I suppose.

      • Saturdaycat@kbin.social
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        Because of her intent and crimes- she had genuine murderous intent as the judgement said. She seemed very cruel and unhinged according to the article and presented evidence and the video showed her crying due to the judgement.

    • Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Bcs we lack the infrastructure for them not to require a car & obviously want car companies, roadworks, and petrol industries to continue having huge profits.

    • kozy138@lemm.ee
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      “Gotta get them teens to work. And no public transit options please, they make my money pile smaller.”

      -CEO’s everywhere

      • kandoh@reddthat.com
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        So we have a large reoccurring expense that forces us to always have a job and stay productive in a modern society where this really isn’t necessary?

      • dragoness@lemmy.zip
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        At risk of angering the vast majority of the fuck cars community, it’s generally because I live 30 minutes from my job by highway, and can’t afford to live within walking distance. And they won’t let us telework. I really really want to actually live close enough to bike.

    • krayj@sh.itjust.works
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      Because the vast majority of them don’t use the 3ton vehicle to commit murder.

      You do know that adults use vehicles as murder weapons also, yeah?

    • The_Mixer_Dude@lemmus.org
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      When I think back to how immature and reckless I was as a teenager I can’t believe I was legally allowed to drive and considered a full grown adult at the age of 18.

      • acutfjg@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        You’re not wrong. Being able to drive by 16 so that you can start working is the capitalist way.

    • El Barto@lemmy.world
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      Awesome. Judge all teenagers because of a deranged one.

      What’s your stance on 27 year olds with driver’s licenses?

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        Yeah buddy i’m going to judge all drivers, because i kinda sorta vaguely don’t want me or others to die!

        Are you against gun control too?

    • rab@lemmy.ca
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      Lol which vehicles weigh 3 tons. Aside from EVs. You mean 3 tons as in 6600 lbs right?

    • sulfate7016@lemm.ee
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      A Camry weighs half of that, and regardless, she could have done this in any vehicle

  • Nyanix@lemmy.ca
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    Jesus, I sympathize, this is awful…i was t-boned by a teen going 85 mph, I wish my attorneys had the same teeth this judge does

    • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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      I’m sorry that happened… but that’s not why she said it. This girl accelerated full speed, without attempting to slow down at all, straight into a brick wall. Those teens probably weren’t trying to hit you, this girl very very very likely was trying to hit that wall and kill everyone in the car.

  • Kyden Ulrik@l.cackl.io
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    I am truly sorry for the passengers. Lost life because of teenage perceived hardship is tragic.

    From a different perspective, it seems incredibly impressive that anyone survived a deliberate head on collision with a brick wall (that appears to have barely buckled) at 100 MPH / 161 KMH.

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
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      Not just survived, but with everything intact. No missing limbs or massive head trauma. She’s wildly lucky in that reguard.

  • kite@lemmy.world
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    There are a lot of people in this post spouting their opinion on an article they very clearly did not read.

    • Nintendo@lemmy.world
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      there was video from CCTV and they also checked onboard computers and saw there were no attempts to slow down before collision

  • TheProtagonist@lemmy.world
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    This is an unbelievable tragedy, for all of them. She just turned 18, I wonder what her sentence will be like. I assume that in the US - unlike the situation over here in Europe - there is no special “juvenile justice” for young adults, so she might face multiple lifetimes in prison after being convicted for murder. If I remember correctly you can get separate sentences for each victim, which will sum up to your total sentence.