A teenage lady killed her mother and invited good friend to see the corpse. She’s going to spend remainder of her life behind bars

“Have you ever ever seen a lifeless physique?”

It’s the chilling query then 14-year-old Carly Gregg requested her good friend after she shot and killed her mom, highschool instructor Ashley Smylie, inside their Mississippi residence earlier this yr.

Carly advised the good friend to come back over, claiming there was an “emergency” earlier than revealing the horrifying state of affairs, telling the good friend: “My mother is in there.”

Through the week-long homicide trial, jurors heard how {the teenager} shot Smylie, 40, to demise with a .357 magnum on March 19 after they bought residence from Carly’s faculty, Northwest Rankin Excessive Faculty, the place her mother was a math instructor.

Prosecutors advised the court docket that the capturing was carried out as a result of Smylie had found her daughter’s “secret life” with medicine. They painted Carly as a harmful killer who had “burner telephones,” hidden vape pens containing marijuana, and a historical past of dishonest in school and self-harm.

Carly then lured her stepfather Heath Smylie residence by texting him pretending to be her mom, writing: “When will you be residence honey?”

When Heath later arrived on the home, Carly shot him within the shoulder earlier than he overpowered her and she or he was arrested a short while later.

The teenager’s protection staff argued she was experiencing vital psychological well being points and that whereas she was having a “state of psychosis in an episode of acute stress on March 19, she misplaced herself in what was the proper storm.”

Harrowing video footage was performed in court docket that appeared to point out the teenager hiding one thing behind her again simply moments earlier than strolling to a again bed room the place the sounds of three obvious gunshots and her mom screaming could possibly be heard.

Now, after simply 4 days of testimony, a jury deliberated for 2 hours on Friday earlier than discovering the teenager responsible of killing her mom, responsible of making an attempt to kill her stepfather and responsible of tampering with proof.

At simply 15 years outdated, she is going to spend the remainder of her life in jail with out parole.

A Lethal Secret

Prosecutors say Carly killed her mom after the teenager’s good friend revealed Carly’s “secret life” with medicine on the day of the capturing.

“From the testimony of a good friend, he was so anxious about Carly’s use of smoking marijuana, so anxious about her being excessive, and so anxious about her having these burner telephones, that [Carly’s] mother didn’t find out about, that he felt compelled to inform Miss Ashley Smylie that day,” Rankin County Assistant District Legal professional Kathryn Newman stated Monday throughout opening statements.

Ashley Smylie searched Carly’s room and found vape pens simply moments earlier than she was shot and killed, based on WLBT.

Psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark testified through the trial that the teenager was dealing with a psychological well being disaster that day and that her vital temper swings had been made worse by her medicines as she was listening to voices and having dissociative issues.

“After which, her mom finds out she’s smoking marijuana,” Clark stated. “For Carly, specifically, she so cared about her mom’s approval, so for her, this was a disaster.”

“She was having temper points, consuming dysfunction points, reducing herself, listening to voices and sleeping problem all main as much as January of 2024,” Clark added.

On March 12, simply days earlier than the capturing, she had been placed on new remedy, which she stated made her signs worse.

Prosecutors additionally introduced a journal to the jury during which Carly saved a written record of 5 “beliefs,” together with “there isn’t a God,” “it’s okay to be evil,” and “you don’t want household.”

The journal was evaluated by a forensic psychiatrist, who known as the entries “extremely regarding.”

Her protection staff argued that the journals paint an image of a mentally unwell little one who had repeatedly detailed simply how a lot she was struggling.

Harrowing new video exhibits moments earlier than and after killing

Carly was captured on residence surveillance footage strolling round the home earlier than allegedly firing three photographs at Smylie, who died from a gunshot wound to the face.

Sporting a Nirvana t-shirt, the teenager is seen wandering round the home and seems to be holding one thing behind her again, later recognized as a .357 Magnum handgun, as she positions herself dealing with the digicam after which slides out of the room.

After Carly disappears from view, three obvious gunshots and a girl’s screams are heard.

The teenager returns to the kitchen seconds after the capturing, hiding the weapon behind her again as she slides onto a stool on the counter and grabs her mom’s cellphone as her two canines hovered close to her.

Prosecutors alleged through the trial that that is when Carly used her mom’s cellphone to textual content her stepfather and lure him to the home.

She additionally texted certainly one of her buddies, BW, to come back over claiming that there was an “emergency.”

As soon as the good friend arrived, Carly allegedly requested her “if she had ever seen a lifeless physique earlier than” earlier than main her to her mom’s physique and saying her stepfather was subsequent.

Almost an hour later, video from the storage confirmed Carly working away after she allegedly shot her stepfather and struggled with him over the gun.

Carly broke down in tears when bodycam footage was proven in court docket of deputies arriving to seek out her crying stepfather saying his spouse was lifeless.

“She killed her mother!” Heath is heard telling the authorities: “She tried to shoot me!”

When Carly’s stepfather Heath took the stand this week, he stated the teenager had no recollection of the capturing.

“I by no means seen anyone like that, even in motion pictures, she was not herself and I don’t consider she even acknowledged me,” Heath stated.

He stated he remembered Carly as a “candy little lady,” however that day it regarded as if “she had seen a demon or one thing.”

Heath additionally recalled the horror of discovering his spouse lifeless.

“She was laying on her again along with her arms over right here and a towel overlaying her face,” he testified. “I knew that she had been shot, there was blood round, I’m undecided precisely the place, on the best facet of her face.

“After I opened the door to the kitchen, the gun went off in my face earlier than the door was three or 4 inches huge open,” he stated. “The gun flashed in my face. It went off two extra instances, however my hand was on the gun after the primary shot, and I twisted it from Carly.”

Regardless of this, Heath stated he and Carly nonetheless speak day by day and their relationship is “good.”

In closing on Friday, State Legal professional Michael Smith stated Carly “knew the distinction between proper and incorrect.”

“There’s little doubt that Carly Madison Gregg is the one who killed her mother, Ashley Smylie,” he advised the court docket. “There’s little doubt that she tried to kill Heath Smylie when she aimed the gun proper at his head and shot and hit him within the shoulder. And there’s little doubt that she’s the one who hid the digicam, thus tampering with proof.”

“We might ask that you just return there and discover her responsible of all three as a result of she was not insane on the time that this occurred. She knew precisely what she was doing, and she or he knew the distinction between proper and incorrect.”

Nonetheless, the protection urged the jury to seek out her not responsible by cause of madness.

“This was not a foul child. This was not a child who was enraged. This isn’t a child who had hatred in her coronary heart for her mom or her stepfather, in reality, it was the precise reverse. This was a child who was experiencing vital psychological well being points,” protection lawyer Bridget Todd advised the court docket. “The identical psychological well being points that ran in her household that we all know are hereditary.”

“It is a child who was compliant with the remedy she was placed on, nonetheless, that remedy with out them having the ability to inform beforehand, induced her signs to worsen,” she continued. “And whereas she was having a state of psychosis in an episode of acute stress on March 19, she misplaced herself in what was the proper storm.”

Specialists testified on Thursday and deemed Carly competent to face trial and that she doesn’t meet the state’s customary for madness. Nonetheless, this contradicted the testimony given Wednesday from a psychiatrist who stated Carly didn’t bear in mind capturing her mom.

What’s subsequent for Carly?

Previous to the trial, the teenager was provided a plea deal of 40 years in jail, however turned it down. As an alternative, her staff pursued an madness protection. Nevertheless it wasn’t sufficient.

Carly sobbed in court docket on Friday when the jury discovered her responsible on all three counts.

After simply an hour extra of deliberation, the jury sentenced the 15-year-old to jail.

She’s going to spend the remainder of her life behind bars, with out parole.