A TEEN accused of shooting dead her mother in their home tried to lure her stepdad to the same gate with an eerie text so she could ambush him, prosecutors say.
Carly Gregg was captured on surveillance playing on her phone just seconds after allegedly killing her mom, Ashley Smylie, on March 19, 2024.
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Gregg was 14 years old when she murdered her mother inside their home in Brandon, Mississippi, outside Jackson, after the two argued over her marijuana usage, prosecutors allege.
Horrifying surveillance footage in the house showed Gregg wearing a Nirvana tee and dark pants, walking from the kitchen to another room that morning before gunshots and screams rang out.
Gregg shot her mom in the neck, stole her phone, and went back to the kitchen to text her stepdad while playing with their two dogs, prosecutors allege.
The eerie video showed a stone-faced Gregg staring at her mom’s phone while she texted her stepdad, Heath, “When will you be home, honey?”
Gregg also texted a friend, referred to only as BC in court, and asked them to come over, prosecutors claim.
When BC came to the house, Gregg asked them, “Have you ever seen a dead body?” before leading the friend inside.
By the time Heath came home, BC was standing outside, where they heard gunfire.
Heath managed to wrestle the gun out of Gregg’s hand and then called police, prosecutors allege.
His shoulder was grazed by a bullet, but he otherwise came out unscathed.
Gregg, now 15, has pleaded not guilty by way of insanity, and her lawyers are claiming she blacked out during the shootings.
At the time of the killing, Gregg had been smoking marijuana for about six weeks and was on the anxiety and depression drugs Lexapro and Zoloft.
One psychiatrist testified that she was experiencing hallucinations around that time.
Gregg’s lawyers told the court that she has no memory of her mother’s murder.
DISTURBING BEHAVIORS
On Thursday, Gregg started her fourth day of trial with disturbing courtroom behavior.
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At the start of the day’s trial proceedings, she could be seen trying to hide a bout of laughter, Court TV footage showed.
A raft of mental health professionals testified for Gregg’s case and debated the severity of her mental health struggles.
The teen had a troubled relationship with her mother but was described as a gifted child who excelled in school, Gregg’s former counselor Rebecca Kirk testified in court.
Gregg skipped the fourth grade and had no history of violence.
Her biological father was allegedly abusive toward her and had been diagnosed as bipolar.
Kirk saw Gregg for nine weeks at the beginning of 2024 for counseling and said the teen described some mental health struggles but seemed relatively normal.
The pair spent most of their time talking about school, and Gregg excitedly told Kirk she was reading Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The book follows the main character’s conflicted feelings of guilt after he murders his neighbor.
Another professional, Dr. Jason Pickett, interviewed Gregg after her mother’s death and said, in his opinion, the teen does not meet the insanity requirements.
He doubted the teen had bipolar and questioned whether her father suffered from the mental disorder either.
Meanwhile, Dr. Andrew Clark, a medical psychiatrist, argued on Wednesday that Gregg had “blacked out” the day of the killing.
However, he suggested that Gregg could be capable of faking a mental health condition.
Gregg was offered a plea deal to serve 40 years in prison, but she dismissed it.
She faced a potential sentence of life in prison.