“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.

      • 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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        1 year ago

        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.”

        • Professorozone@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I recently read that a 70mph accident is considered “unsurvivable.” Regrettably I don’t recall the source. Because people survive accidents that happen on 70mph speed limit highways all the time, I assume two things. 1. That the accident has to happen AT 70mph. And that 2, most people are able to slow down or perhaps the vehicle hits something first, glancing blow, that sort of thing, which brings the speed down, making it more survivable. So yeah, I think that makes 100mph suicide/murder.

          • Dem Bosain@midwest.social
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            1 year ago

            crash testing is done between 35 and 40 mph. At those speeds the car is usually undrivable after the test. Over that speed you risk damage to very expensive test equipment.

      • 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.

        • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          …no, no, no… only WOMEN can be in abusive relationships.

          At least that is the utter bullshit you would believe if you listened to the feminist/white knight rhetoric out there.

            • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Clearly you don’t want to hear the truth of the general bias of the internet and society as a whole.

                • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  We don’t have good feminists. The ones we have left don’t want equality, they want favoritism. There is a massive difference between the two.

          • 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.