John Jefferson
Carly Gregg turns down plea deal and opts for trial in mom’s murder case on Aug. 27, 2024 (WJTV).
A now 15-year-old Mississippi girl who in March, at the age of 14, allegedly shot her math teacher mother twice in the face and murdered her at home, showed a friend the victim’s body, and then ambushed her stepfather when he arrived that afternoon appeared in court Tuesday and confirmed that she would rather head to trial in September and face two possible life sentences than accept a plea deal from the state that could have meant four decades in prison.
“For the record, what was the last recommendation of the State of Mississippi?” Rankin County Circuit Court Judge Dewey Arthur said at the start of the pretrial conference aired live by WJTV, after Carly Gregg got out of her chair and walked to the podium with a defense lawyer.
“The state recommended 40 years […] in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and agreed to nolle pros counts 2 and 3 of the indictment,” an off-camera voice said of the prosecution’s position, if Gregg had agreed to admit to murdering her 40-year-old mother Ashley Smylie, a Northwest Rankin High School teacher once honored as “Teacher of the Month,” on March 19.
Gregg spoke next and answered the judge’s questions one by one. She said rejecting the plea offer was her choice and that she understands she could face two life sentences behind bars if convicted.
“The jury will either acquit you or you’ll be facing two life sentences or this court can sentence you up to 93 years, do you understand that?” the judge asked.
Gregg, who was reportedly found competent to stand trial recently, confirmed that she understood.
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
The details in Mississippi’s case against Gregg have been shocking from the start, as authorities have alleged that Gregg opened fire multiple times after her mother “took some items” out of her bedroom at the Brandon home, next invited a friend over to show off the victim’s body by claiming there was an “emergency,” played with her dogs in the meanwhile, and then told that friend there were “two for the head, one for the chest” waiting for Gregg’s stepfather, too.
A hearing from April that was posted online in full by Jackson Jambalaya featured Rankin County investigator Zachary Cotton testifying that Gregg also ambushed her stepfather and shot him in the shoulder that day.
He fought back and grabbed the gun before Gregg fled the scene by hopping a fence, prompting authorities to track her movements by helicopter and arrest her a short time later, Cotton said. The stepfather said Gregg’s “eyes were really big, like she had seen a demon or something to that effect” when the two struggled over the gun, the investigator said.
Left: Carly Gregg pictured during an April 16, 2024, court appearance (Jackson Jambalaya/YouTube). Left inset: Ashley Smylie (Northwest Rankin High School). Right inset: Carly Gregg (Rankin County Sheriff’s Office).
According to Cotton, the defendant walked into her bedroom with a gun and shot her mother, texted her stepdad from the victim’s phone to lure him to the house, and then texted one of her own friends to come over to the house, where Gregg allegedly claimed there was an “emergency” — even as she was playing with her dogs and singing to the canines 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 has pushed back by arguing that Gregg heard voices while behind bars following her arrest and had started taking the anxiety and depression medication Lexapro, switching from a different medication, just one week before Ashley Smylie’s death.
WJTV reported that Gregg’s mental evaluation is expected to take place on Thursday, just weeks before trial on Sept. 16. She faces charges as an adult in the first-degree murder, attempted murder, and evidence tampering case.
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