"The Crash" - MacKenzie Shirilla

 

So a friend asked me to watch "The Crash" and give my thoughts.

It's really hard for me to pronounce guilt or innocence unless I've seen all the evidence myself, particularly in the actual courtroom, which I haven't. 

Edited: UNLESS I seen most of the evidence from both sides and neither side is claiming evidence was suppressed.

For example, Alex Murdaugh or Ellen Greenberg.

Yes, I think Alex Murdaugh is guilty - and the recent overturn of his conviction is a travesty of justice.

With Ellen Greenberg, I don't believe she stabbed herself 20 times, including in the back of the head, I'm sorry. 

(The most likely suspect is her fiance, a judge's nephew because his story was off, but I'd need more evidence to say for sure. I only think it's absurd to pronounce it "suicide" by stabbing herself 20 times including the back of her head.)

Those 2 cases in particular show you how much money, privilege, and being well connected can buy you out of consequence and trouble in America. 

With Karen Read, I don't know, as I wrote on here before - I think Occam's razor, the simplest answer is the correct one, that she did it - but there were honestly some strange things in her case, too, like the dog bites on his arm.

Having said that, just based on what I have seen ... honestly?

I think there's not enough evidence either way  - for me, or anyone, to conclude that she is guilty OR innocent. 

I think the other possibilities of temporary distraction, joyriding too fast,  or medical issue were not fully investigated and therefore not ruled out.

Thus, it came as a surprise when the judge convicted her of premeditated murder - of not just her boyfriend, but of their friend riding in the car, too (which actually doesn't make any sense)?

Nothing the prosecution used as "proof"  - was actual proof. 

In fact, it's nothing I haven't heard or seen before out of the mouths of hormonal, emotional. overdramatic teenage girls - and this describes most teenage girls - and actually, I've seen and heard way worse, from both teenage girls AND teenage boys.

Teenage brains, both male and female, aren't fully developed until after age 26 - thus, they have trouble controlling their impulses or thinking through the consequences of their words and actions.

And most of the time, they don't even mean them when they say this crazy stuff, and to be quite honest, I've heard way worse.

And there wasn't a single shred of evidence that she actually said, nor even implied, "I want to/am going to kill my boyfriend."

I also saw nothing whatsoever that made me believe she was the "If you break up with me, I'll kill you" type, they tried to portray her as - and in fact, as we learned at the end - with text proof - that it was actually HIM that texted "I'm going to crash this car if you do."  . 

Hell, it's possible they BOTH said it before on separate occasions, neither one really meaning it.

Teenagers can say some awful things, especially when mad, that they don't really mean (and 5 minutes later they're over it and back together) - but that was especially true with these 2.

Don't get me wrong, she said some awful things that shouldn't be said to someone you love - but then - so did he.

(Don't forget, he said "because you're dumb" - on video, and she just laughed).

I also don't think not remembering what happened just before the crash is unusual - in fact, it's typical - it's the brain's way of protecting itself from trauma.

I know 2 people involved in horrific car crashes that don't remember anything but waking up later - that's actually more common than remembering what happened just before the crash. 

Now, what do I believe happened? 

I'll percentage out my belief - but again, that's all it is - belief.

60% possibility she may have impulsively crashed the car in the heat of the moment while angry/arguing with her boyfriend - which would make it vehicular homicide manslaughter without intent to kill. . 

35% possibility she was distracted or joyriding and the road ended before she realized it in time.

5% - there was a medical emergency like passing out or seizure.

The problem is, this is all speculation - because despite her conviction, there actually IS no proof either way. 

Now - I do think she was a little bit spoiled, didn't have enough parental supervision, and may have impulse-control issues that need treatment - even beyond what's considered normal for teenagers (which is a lot).

But there was nothing whatsoever that convinced me  this was premeditated murder of both her boyfriend and especially their friend in the backseat.

I could be wrong, but that's the problem - there is no proof either way. 

As for the 5% of my belief being possibility of medical issue?

The prosecution is correct - "POTS" syndrome would cause you to pass out and your body would thus relax, less likely push the pedal to the metal, but it's not impossible for weight of collapse to cause that.

A more likely medical scenario would be that considering she has had "blackouts" before, it may not be POTS syndrome, but rather a type of seizure that has gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. 

In particular, tonic-clonic seizures cause your body to tense up/go rigid for a few seconds to minutes, then subsequently relax and you pass out - and they are often misdiagnosed as POTS. 

I'm not saying that's what happened and actually think it's the least likely option, but it should've at least been investigated and ruled out - but it wasn't.

However, my suspicion is that this was vehicular homicide/manslaughter as an impulsive act without intent to kill -   and thus, she does deserve an appeal trial - with a new lawyer because here's clearly sucked!

As for the parents believing it was murder, I think parents often want someone to blame regardless and they will see it as "murder" even if it wasn't. 

What I will say is that this case does have a slightly misogynistic feel to it that I can't quite put my finger on,  other than the above - which doesn't surprise me for Ohio cops, to be quite honest, I've seen way worse with actual DV cases in Ohio - in some ways, Ohio is worse than Kentucky or even the deeper South when it comes to women, for some reason.

And that's all she wrote!