A Mississippi jury took just two hours to find a 15-year-old guilty of shooting her mother to death in March and wounding her stepfather.
Carly Gregg was given two life sentences and an additional 10 years for hiding a security camera inside her home after the shooting. The sentences will run concurrently, WJTV reported.
Gregg, who was 14 when she shot her mother, Ashley Smylie, and stepfather, Heath Smylie, on March 19, previously rejected a plea deal that would have seen her serving 40 years in prison, as CrimeOnline reported.
The jury had to option to find Gregg not guilty by reason of insanity,
“There’s no doubt that Carly Madison Gregg is the one who killed her mom, Ashley Smylie,” State Attorney Michael Smith told the jury in his closing argument. “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.”
“And there’s no doubt that she’s the one who hid the camera, thus tampering with evidence. 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.”
Defense attorney Kevin Camp argued that Gregg had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but the jury agreed with prosecutors who said she did not meet the requirements to be considered criminally insane, WLBT said.
Gregg cried through the reading of the verdict as members of her family — including her stepfather and grandparents — mouthed words of encouragement for her, WAPT said.
“She’s doing OK, she’s hanging in there,” Camp said after the sentence. “This was a tough case from the get-go. This jury had a very, very tough decision to make.”
Camp said her attorneys would appeal.
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[Featured image: Carly Gregg/Rankin County Sheriff’s Office and Ashley Smylie/Rankin County School District]