Carly Gregg was found guilty of murder following a weeklong trial which saw security camera footage of the teen appearing to murder her mother, as well as bodycam footage of her arrest and her stepfather's heartbreaking reaction to his wife's brutal death.
Carly Gregg, 15, was found guilty Friday of murder, attempted murder, and tampering with evidence.
Gregg of Brandon, MS was 14 when the March 2024 shooting went down earlier this year. Her mother, Ashley Smylie, was killed -- before her stepfather, Heath Smylie, was also shot at before Gregg allegedly ran from the scene.
She reportedly rejected a 40-year prison sentence plea deal, with her defense team -- who acknowledges she's the one who pulled the trigger -- pleading insanity. In closing arguments earlier today, her attorney, Bridget Todd, said the teen was in a "state of psychosis" at the time of her mother's murder.
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View Story"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," said Todd, via WAPT. "The same mental health issues that ran in her family that we know are hereditary. 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," she argued.
The prosecution, however, was adamant she was "not insane at the time that this happened."
"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," said attorney Michael Smith. "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."
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View StoryVideo of the Alleged Murder
According to assistant district attorney Kathryn Newman, one of the teen's friends was "so worried about Carly's use of smoking marijuana," and the girl using burner phones, "that he felt compelled to tell Miss Ashley Smylie that day." Smylie was a teacher at Northwest Rankin High School, where her daughter was a student.
Per prosecutors, Smylie began searching her daughter's room when they returned home from school that day and found vape pens. According to Newman, that's when the teen went into her parents' bedroom and grabbed a Magnum pistol from beneath the mattress.
Security video, meanwhile, appears to show Gregg walk from her parents' room to her own bedroom -- hiding something, believed to be the gun, behind her back. Audio then catches what sounds like a gunshot, followed by a scream and two more gunshots. Gregg is then seen going into the kitchen, where she immediately begins using a phone while also singing to the family dogs.
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View StoryAccording to prosecutors, the teen's stepfather began receiving messages from Ashley's phone, asking, "When will you be home, honey?" -- alleging Gregg is the one who sent those messages. The teen is also accused of reaching out to a number of friends, asking for help. One of them did respond to her pleas, and was allegedly asked if "she had ever seen a dead body before," as well as whether the friend was "squeamish around dead bodies?"
Per prosecutors, Gregg then showed the witness the victim's body -- and claimed her stepfather was next -- saying, "I put three in my mom and I got three more waiting for my stepdad when he gets home." The friend allegedly was told to wait in the backyard, before she heard gunshots and saw Gregg running.
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View StoryAlleged Attempted Murder of Her Stepfather
When Heath Smylie took the stand on Tuesday, he testified that when he opened the door to the kitchen of the home, "the gun went off in my face before the door was even 3 to 4 inches wide open, and everything kind of went pretty fast from there."
"The gun flashed in my face. It went off two more times, but my hand was on the gun after the first shot, and I twisted it from Carly," he claimed.
Video from another camera shows him arriving home, before screaming from inside the house can be heard, including him shouting, "Carly!" Gregg is then seen running from the home, with Heath on her tail. "It looked like she was terrified ... she was screaming out of her mind, scared, like she had seen a demon, or something," he testified.
Gregg was apprehended after Heath called 9-1-1, with dramatic bodycam footage showing the chaos when first responders arrived on the scene. She was seen crying in the courtroom as the video played.
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View StoryVideo of the Aftermath & Arrest
Gregg was apprehended after Heath called 9-1-1, with dramatic bodycam footage showing the chaos when first responders arrived on the scene. The teen was seen crying in the courtroom as footage of paramedics tending to her stepfather was shown.
While taking the witness stand on Thursday, Deputy Tony Shack also shared bodycam footage with the court of him driving Gregg back to the scene of the crime after they found her on the side of the road.
As they get her out of the vehicle to test her hands for gunpowder residue, she says she doesn't remember which hand she shot with while getting swabbed. She also asked one of the officers, "Is my stepdad okay?"
One of the cops then asked her, "Are you okay?" -- before she replies, "Yeah, I'm fine."