The judge denies mother murderer Carly Gregg a new murder trial

Left inset: Carly Gregg (Mississippi Department of Corrections). Right inset: Ashley Smylie (Northwest Rankin High School). Main topic: Kevin Gregg speaks in an interview that aired on local news in September 2024 (WLBT).

Convicted and imprisoned 15-year-old murderer Carly Gregg failed to get a new trial Monday for shooting her mother in the face at home because the judge who sentenced her to life in prison without parole declined to let the jury out of Rankin County, Mississippi, in the murder and attempted murder murder verdicts guilty of murder.

On September 20, Gregg was convicted of the murder of 40-year-old math teacher and mother Ashley Smylie and the attempted murder of stepfather Heath Smylie in March, when Gregg was 14. The result was no surprise considering how much evidence there was, be it horrifying video evidence, witness statements, DNA or Gregg’s own words.

After Gregg admitted she committed the shooting and rejected the state’s plea for a 40-year sentence, jurors had to answer the question of whether or not the teenager was sane at the time of the crime.

Hours after rejecting Gregg’s insanity defense and finding her guilty, the jury concluded that life in prison without parole was the appropriate sentence, and Judge Dewey Arthur imposed that sentence.

Days later, the defense launched a new trial based on an interview with Gregg’s biological father, Kevin Gregg, that aired September 26 on local Fox affiliate WLBT. During an “unspoken portion” of that interview, the defense claimed that Kevin said that Carly had been treated with equine therapy after hearing voices.

“On Wednesday, September 26, 2024, a reporter from Fox 40/WLBT informed defense counsel that Kevin Gregg, Carly’s biological father, had given an interview, a portion of which would be broadcast later that night,” the report states Defense motion. “In an unaired portion of his interview, Kevin Gregg revealed that Carly was sent to equine therapy as a young child for auditory hallucinations.”

Notably, in a portion of the interview that aired on WLBT, Kevin Gregg criticizes the insanity defense strategy as “very stupid.”

“This girl knew right from wrong. The girl isn’t crazy, that was a very stupid defense if you ask me. But I wasn’t involved. “Nobody ever called me,” he said.

Gregg’s defense further claimed that grandmother Vicki Breeland and uncle James Daniel Floyd were “wrongfully excluded from testifying at trial.”

On Monday, Judge Arthur didn’t see that questioning the birth father made any difference and said the motion for a new trial “must be denied.”

“This court finds in particular that there is nothing new and substantial [sic] “Evidence was discovered that was likely to lead to a different outcome at trial and, with due care, that evidence could not have been discovered earlier,” he concluded. “The defendant refers to alleged statements made by Kevin Gregg. The court reviewed the statements and concluded that these statements were unlikely to have led to a different outcome at trial.”

The judge also made it clear that the non-admission of Breeland’s and Floyd’s statements as evidence was related to the late disclosure of the findings.

“The court permitted the defendant to present a significant amount of testimony that was not promptly turned over. “The court found and held that most, if not all, of the mutual discoveries were not promptly shared to gain a tactical advantage,” he said. “However, to have a defendant tell the court that expounding on the contents of the testimony could prejudice her case before the jury goes too far.”

“The ambush trial must remain in the grave,” Arthur added.

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