A Rankin County jury in Mississippi is scheduled to start deliberations in the murder trial of a 15-year-old, who was 14 when she allegedly killed her mother and injured her stepfather.
Carly Gregg is accused of killing her mother, Ashley Smylie, 40, during a March 19 shooting inside their Brandon home. She’s also accused of shooting and wounding her stepfather, Heath Smylie, as CrimeOnline reported.
Gregg is currently on trial after rejecting a plea deal of 40 years in prison and is charged as an adult with murder and attempted murder.
“There’s no doubt that Carly Madison Gregg is the one who killed her mom, Ashley Smylie. There’s no doubt that she attempted to kill Heath Smylie when she aimed the gun right at his head and shot and hit him in the shoulder,” State Attorney Michael Smith said, according to ABC 16.
“And there’s no doubt that she’s the one who hid the camera, thus tampering with evidence,” said Sate Attorney Michael Smith. “We would ask that you go back there and find her guilty of all three because she was not insane at the time that this happened. She knew exactly what she was doing, and she knew the difference between right and wrong.”
Mississippi state prosecutor Kathryn White Newman said earlier this week that after Gregg killed her mother, she messaged a friend to come over for an “emergency.”
“Are you squeamish around dead bodies?” Gregg asked the friend, then led her to her mother’s body, who had died on a bedroom floor after being shot three times.
Rankin County investigator Zachary Cotton told the court Tuesday that Gregg told her friend that there were three shots, “two for the head, one for the chest.”
Gregg then used her mother’s phone to lure Heath to the house, pretending to be her mother, the prosecution said. She then allegedly shot him, as he fought back and grabbed the gun.
Police tracked the teen by helicopter and arrested her shortly after.
Defense attorney Bridget Todd urged the jury to look at the entire picture, not just the night in question..
“This was not a bad kid. This was not a kid who was enraged. This is not a kid who had hatred in her heart for her mother or her stepfather, in fact, it was the exact opposite. This was a kid who was experiencing significant mental health issues. The same mental health issues that ran in her family that we know are hereditary,” Todd said.
“This is a kid who was compliant with the medication she was put on, however, that medication without them being able to tell beforehand, caused her symptoms to worsen. And while she was having a state of psychosis in an episode of acute stress on March 19, she lost herself in what was the perfect storm.”
Last week, the court rejected a motion to move Gregg’s case to Youth Court, following the state’s argument that she can’t claim insanity after she admitted to using marijuana days before her mother’s death.
If convicted, she faces possible life in prison. Check back for updates.
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[Featured image: Carly Gregg/Instagram;Ashley Smylie/Rankin County School District]
