Convicted 15-year-old murderer Carly Gregg’s motion for a new trial was denied by a Mississippi judge on Monday.
Gregg was convicted of shooting and killing her mother, Ashley Smylie, 40, in cold blood and was sentenced to life in prison without parole back in September by a Rankin County, Miss. jury.
Lawyers for the teen sought a new trial based on evidence revealed in an interview Carly’s biological father gave to local news station WLBT.
In that interview, released just days after the conviction, Carly’s father said his daughter had auditory hallucinations when she was a child and engaged in equine therapy.
“On Wednesday, September 26th, 2024, a reporter for Fox 40/WLBT informed defense counsel that Kevin Gregg, Carly’s biological father had given an interview, part of which would be aired later that night,” the defense motion read, “In an unaired portion of his interview, Kevin Gregg disclosed that Carly was placed in equestrian therapy as a young child due to experiencing auditory hallucinations.”
dead by her daughter Carly in March. Northwest Rankin High School
Kevin Gregg also said, “That girl knew right from wrong. That girl is not insane, that was a very dumb defense if you ask me. But I wasn’t involved. Nobody ever called me.”
Judge Dewey Arthur said in a decision Monday that no information revealed in that interview warranted a new trial.
“This Court specifically finds that no new and material [sic] has been discovered which probably would produce a different result at trial and, by reasonable diligence, this evidence could not have been discovered sooner,” Judge Arthur wrote in his decision, according to Law&Crime.
“The Court reviewed the statements and finds these statements would not have probably produced a different result at trial.”
Chilling video from inside the Mississippi home shows the 15-year-old just moments after shooting her mother in the face. In that footage, Gregg can be seen walking into the kitchen as her mother laid dead with a bullet wound to her face.
phone in an attempt to lure him into a murder-trap. Law&Crime
She then is seen casually texting her step-father, Heath Smylie, in an attempt to lure him home with loving texts from her mother’s phone.
“When will you be home, honey?” one text read according to court records.
When Heath did arrive home on that fateful March day – Carly shot him in the shoulder before he was able to wrestle the gun away from her, the court heard.
Prosecutors also said that Gregg texted her friend – asking her to come over for an “emergency.”
“Have you ever seen a dead body? My mom is in there,” the friend claimed Gregg asked her when she arrived at the home.
Gregg carried out the killings due to Smylie discovering her daughter’s “secret life” of smoking marijuana.
Ashley Smylie supposedly found a stash of THC vaping devices before her daughter would enact revenge, the court heard at trial.
Heath Smylie testified that Carly “was not herself” at the time of the shooting and that he did not believe his stepdaughter even recognized him when she shot him in the shoulder.
The stepfather testified in court that he was still talking to Carly daily and that the two had a good relationship.
Carly Gregg initially turned down a plea deal that offered her 40-years behind bars to pursue an insanity defense. She was sentenced to life in prison without parole.