Carly Gregg, a 15-year-old from Rankin County, Mississippi, has been sentenced to life in prison for the fatal shooting of her mother and the attempted murder of her stepfather.
The jury found her guilty on all charges, and prosecutor Kathryn Newman stated that Gregg displayed “zero remorse.”
The charges stemmed from a March 19 incident in which Gregg, using her mother’s gun, killed 40-year-old Ashley Smylie and wounded her stepfather, Heath Smylie. She also faced charges for tampering with evidence after hiding a security camera following the shooting.
Gregg received a life sentence for the murder and aggravated assault counts, while she was sentenced to an additional 10 years for tampering with evidence.
At the time of the shooting, Gregg was 14 years old. Prosecutors claimed she ambushed her stepfather upon his return home, having previously killed her mother inside their family home in Brandon, Mississippi. Following the incident, she fled but was later apprehended nearby.
Though her defense team did not dispute that she killed her mother, they argued that she was experiencing a mental health crisis during the incident and had no memory of the shooting.
Dr. Andrew Clark, a child psychologist, testified on September 17 that on the day of the shooting, Gregg was “grumpy and irritable” and unable to focus in class at Northwest Rankin High School, where her mother taught math. He also reported that she had a history of depression and self-harm and had been hearing worsening voices before the incident.
On the day of the incident, after returning home with her mother, Gregg retrieved a .357 Magnum pistol from beneath the mattress in her parents’ bedroom. Concealing the weapon, she confronted her mother and shot her three times.
Following the shooting, Gregg invited a friend over and nonchalantly asked if she was “squeamish around dead bodies” before leading her to where her mother lay dead on the floor.
During closing arguments, State Attorney Michael Smith emphasized that Gregg was aware of her actions and understood the difference between right and wrong at the time of the shooting, urging the jury to find her guilty on all counts.
