Girl rejects 40-year prison sentence for shooting death of her mother
Carly Gregg rejects a deal and opts for a trial in her mother’s murder case on August 27, 2024 (WJTV).
A Mississippi girl, now 15, who in March, when she was 14, allegedly shot her mother, a math teacher, twice in the face and murdered her at home, showed the victim’s body to a friend and then ambushed her stepfather when he arrived that afternoon appeared in court Tuesday and confirmed that she would rather go to trial in September and face potentially two life sentences than accept a deal with the state that could have meant four decades in prison.
“For the record, what was the final recommendation from the state of Mississippi?” Rankin County District Court Judge Dewey Arthur said at the start of the preliminary hearing, broadcast live by WJTV, after Carly Gregg rose from her chair and walked to the podium with a defense attorney.
“The state has recommended 40 years (…) in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and agreed to dismiss counts 2 and 3 of the indictment,” a voice-over said of the prosecution’s position if Gregg had agreed to admit to the March 19 murder of her 40-year-old mother, Ashley Smylie, a Northwest Rankin High School teacher who was once honored as “Teacher of the Month.”
Gregg spoke next, answering the judge’s questions one by one. She said it was her decision to decline the offer and that she was aware that if convicted, she could face two life sentences.
“The jury will either acquit you or you will face two life sentences. The court can also sentence you to up to 93 years. Do you understand that?” asked the judge.
Gregg, who was reportedly recently declared fit to stand trial, confirmed that she understood.
“Yes, Your Honor,” she said.
The details of Gregg’s trial in Mississippi were shocking from the start. Authorities alleged that Gregg opened fire multiple times after her mother took “some items” from her bedroom in the Brandon home. She then invited a friend over to show the victim’s body, claiming it was an “emergency.” In the meantime, she played with her dogs and then told the friend that Gregg’s stepfather also had “two for the head and one for the chest” waiting for her.
In an April hearing posted in full online by Jackson Jambalaya, Rankin County Investigator Zachary Cotton testified that Gregg also ambushed her stepfather that day and shot him in the shoulder.
He fought back and grabbed the gun before Gregg fled over a fence, after which authorities tracked her movements with a helicopter and arrested her a short time later, Cotton said. The stepfather said Gregg’s “eyes were really big, like she saw a demon or something like that” as the two struggled over the gun, the investigator said.
Left: Carly Gregg during a court appearance on April 16, 2024 (Jackson Jambalaya/YouTube). Left photo: Ashley Smylie (Northwest Rankin High School). Right photo: Carly Gregg (Rankin County Sheriff’s Office).
According to Cotton, the defendant went into her bedroom with a gun and shot her mother. From the victim’s cell phone, he texted her stepfather to lure him into the house. He then texted one of her own friends to come to the house, where Gregg allegedly claimed there was an “emergency” – while she was playing with her dogs and singing to them until her friend arrived.
Once there, Gregg allegedly asked the unidentified friend “if she had ever seen a dead body before” before leading the witness to the victim’s body and saying her stepfather was next.
The defense responded that Gregg began hearing voices in jail after her arrest and started taking the anxiety and depression medication Lexapro from another drug a week before Ashley Smylie’s death.
WJTV reported that Gregg’s psychiatric evaluation is expected to take place Thursday, just weeks before her Sept. 16 trial. As an adult, she faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence.
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