BRANDON, Miss. (Court TV) — Attorneys for a Mississippi teenager sentenced to life in prison for murdering her mother and attempting to kill her stepfather are appealing her conviction to a higher court, arguing the jury was given a confusing and legally incorrect instruction regarding her insanity defense.
Carly Gregg was 14 years old at the time of the 2024 shooting and was convicted just months after her 15th birthday.
Carly Gregg reacts to the jury’s verdict Sept. 20, 2024. (Court TV)
The new appeal argues the trial court’s insanity instruction improperly heightened the burden of proof, requiring the defense to show Gregg was “totally deprived of her reason.” Her attorneys claim the court erred by refusing a proposed instruction that would have clarified that a defendant does not have to be “totally” without reason to be found not guilty by reason of insanity. They argue the cumulative effect of these errors denied Gregg a fair trial, especially given the significant evidence of her severe, undiagnosed mental illness presented at trial.
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In an appellate brief filed with the Supreme Court of Mississippi, Gregg’s attorneys contend that the trial’s outcome hinged entirely on her mental state at the time of the offense. The defense presented expert testimony from psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark, who testified at her trial that Gregg had severe undiagnosed mental illness and did not understand the nature and quality of her actions or that they were wrong.
The appeal states, “The jury’s verdict necessarily turned on its evaluation of Carly’s insanity defense.”
Gregg’s lawyers argue that the primary insanity instruction, which was taken from a case more than a century old, was “confusing at best and legally erroneous at worst.” The instruction told jurors they could acquit if they believed Gregg was “laboring under a disease of the mind to the extent that she was totally deprived of her reason and did not know the nature and quality of the act she was committing.” The defense argues the word “totally” sets an impossibly high standard.
Prosecutors argued at trial that Gregg was leading a “secret life” before she shot her mother, Ashley Smylie, in the neck, killing her on March 19, 2024. After the shooting, Gregg texted a 16-year-old friend, identified in court as B.W., to come to the house for an emergency.
B.W. testified that when she arrived, Gregg asked her if she had ever seen a dead body before leading her to see Ashley’s body. Gregg then allegedly told her friend to wait outside as her stepfather, Heath Smylie, was about to come home.
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Heath Smylie testified that when he arrived home, he found his wife’s body before his stepdaughter shot at him three times. He told the jury he was able to wrestle the gun away from her and that Gregg appeared “terrified out of her mind” before she ran away. Police took her into custody about half a mile from the home.
This is not the first time Gregg’s conviction has been challenged. Dr. Pickett’s testimony was the focus of a prior, unsuccessful appeal where the defense claimed they were subjected to a “trial by ambush.” They argued that prosecutors unfairly surprised them by providing notice of the expert rebuttal witness only five days before the trial began.
The Mississippi Court of Appeals denied that appeal, ruling that the defense had adequate time to prepare and had “opened the door” to a rebuttal by putting Gregg’s mental state at issue. In its opinion, the court stated that the practice of “trial by ambush… must remain in the grave where we buried it.”
The jury deliberated for approximately two hours before finding Gregg guilty on all counts. She was sentenced to life in prison for murder and attempted murder, plus 10 years for tampering with evidence. With the prior appeal denied, the case’s future now rests with the Supreme Court of Mississippi’s decision on the new challenge to the jury instructions.
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