Carly Gregg: Teenage murderer sentenced to life in prison for shooting mother to death and wounding stepfather

Teenage murderer Carly Gregg has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her own mother and wounding her stepfather. The 15-year-old was found guilty of all charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence, on Friday. The juvenile killer wept in court as she received her verdict of life in prison without the possibility of parole for her mother’s murder and 30 years for other charges.

Carly Gregg Sentenced to Life in Prison for Shooting Mother to Death

Jurors reached their verdict two hours after viewing chilling surveillance footage that showed the Mississippi teenager in her Brandon home, holding a gun to her back, minutes before fatally shooting her mother, Ashley Smylie, 40, a math teacher at Northwest Rankin High School.

Surveillance footage shows Gregg, who was 14 at the time, walking into her mother’s bedroom. Moments later, three gunshots are heard followed by a scream. She has also been charged with attempted murder of her stepfather, Heath Smylie, whom she tried to lure into the house by sending him text messages from her mother’s phone.

“When are you coming home, honey?” one of Gregg’s messages to Heath read. As soon as he arrived home, she shot him in the shoulder. However, her wounded stepfather managed to wrestle the gun away from her. The heartbreaking incident came just hours after her parents discovered her “secret life” that involved using drugs like marijuana.

Gregg’s attorneys argued insanity, with a psychiatrist arguing she was in a mental crisis on the day of the shooting. Dr. Andrew Clark said she was hearing voices and suffering from dissociation. “And then her mother finds out she’s smoking marijuana,” Clark testified.

“For Carly, in particular, she cared so much about her mother’s approval, so for her, it was a crisis,” the psychiatrist added. Meanwhile, her stepfather also testified on her behalf, saying that “she wasn’t herself that day,” according to the Daily Beast. Calling her a “sweet little girl,” Heath said, “I don’t think she even recognized me,” adding that they still speak every day.