A Mississippi teen on trial for allegedly murdering her mother and attempting to kill her stepfather giggled and tried to cover her mouth as the fourth day of proceedings began.
Carly Gregg is accused of killing her mother, Ashley Smylie, 40, during a March 19 shooting inside their Brandon home, when she was 14. She’s also accused of shooting and wounding her stepfather, Heath Smylie, as CrimeOnline reported.
Gregg is currently on trial in Rankin County. She rejected a plea deal of 40 years in prison and is charged as an adult with murder and attempted murder.
On Thursday, during the trial’s fourth day, Gregg was seen on the livestream struggling to suppress laughter, according to DailyMail.
Although it’s unclear what she was giggling about, Gregg reportedly put her hand over her mouth and tried to suppress laughter while her defense team wrote or drew something on a piece of paper.
On Wednesday, the state called in psychiatrist Andrew Clark, who testified that Gregg had a mental health crisis and didn’t remember shooting her mother. Clark said Gregg likely “blacked out” for over an hour on the day in question.
Gregg also allegedly admitted to using marijuana up until the day before the shooting, while taking prescribed medications, Lexapro and Zoloft, for mood disorders.
“‘She was having mood issues, eating disorder issues, cutting herself, hearing voices and sleeping difficulty all leading up to January of 2024,” Clark testified.
Dr. Clark testified that Smylie confronted the teen about her marijuana use on the day she was killed, adding that Gregg began using marijuana six weeks before the shooting and had difficulties adjusting to new medications.
‘And then, her mother finds out she’s smoking marijuana, For Carly, in particular, she so cared about her mother’s approval, so for her, this was a crisis,” Clark continued.
When asked if he thought Gregg understood the impact of her actions, Clark said, “I don’t think so,” the Clarion Ledger reports.
“When you treat Bipolar II with antidepressant medication, you often can make things worse. Either nothing gets better or you can make someone worse because you can drive them into a manic state. And I think of it, I often say to patients, it’s like having a boat without a keel. If you don’t have a stable move in your cranking up the motor, you’re going to be zigzagging all over the lake,” he said.
The defense rested on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the state presented expert witnesses in rebuttal, highlighting contradictions in Gregg’s story after her arrest. Prosecutors noted that Gregg never mentioned the hallucinations to medical professionals that she allegedly experienced before the shooting.
Rebecca Kirk, a counselor, testified that she observed no changes in Gregg’s mood during her examination, CBS 12 reports.
“It says appearance, normal grooming and hygiene, attitude, calm and cooperative behavior. No unusual moments or psychomotor changes. Speech normal, right tone, volume without pressure affect, normal range, congruent thought process, goal directed and logical perception and no hallucinations or delusions,” Kirk said.
Last week, the court rejected a motion to move Gregg’s case to Youth Court, following the state’s argument that she can’t claim insanity after she admitted to using marijuana days before her mother’s death.
If convicted, she faces life in prison. Check back for updates.
