Carly Gregg: Teen convicted of mother's murder hires new defense attorney in attempt to get new trial
Attorney James Murphy says he believes mistakes were made in speedy trial which saw Carly sentenced to life in prison
A teenage girl convicted of murdering her mother in 2024 has obtained a new defense attorney who has filed a motion for a new trial, claiming the original trial seemed rushed and he believes mistakes were made in the process.
Carly Gregg was 14-years-old when on March 19, 2024, she allegedly shot her mother to death after getting home from school. Ashley Smylie, 40, a teacher at the school Carly attended, had been searching her daughter’s room for what the prosecution alleged was a stash of secret vapes and burner phones when Carly took her mother’s .357 Magnum handgun and shot her.
Video footage from the home allegedly shows that Carly took her mother’s phone, posed as her mother, and sent a text message to her stepdad wondering when he would be home.
Carly, now 15, was convicted of the murder in Sept. 2024. Court TV posted courtroom footage of the trial and testimonies.
The teen’s family retained defense attorney James Murphy in the aftermath of that conviction, switching from her previous defense team led by attorneys Bridget Todd and Kevin Camp, according to a Clarion Ledger report.
With Todd and Camp, Carly originally pled not guilty by reason of insanity, turning down a plea deal that would have given her a 40-year sentence instead of the life sentence she is currently serving after being tried as an adult.
Todd and Camp submitted an appeal for a new trial, but Rankin County Judge Dewey Arthur denied that, WLBT reports. The attorneys took their appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court.
On March 26, 2025, an Appearance Form with James Murphy listed as Carly’s new defense counsel was filed with the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Murphy gave WLBT an exclusive interview in the days following that filing. He explained that he has been practicing law since 2006. He clerked for the Court of Appeals following his graduation from law school, then worked for two law firms before opening his own in 2012.
He estimates he has an 80 percent rate of non-guilty verdicts in his cases, which he said range from DUIs to murder.
“I’ve never represented a juvenile charged as an adult with a felony, although I have represented numerous juveniles alleged to have committed felonies in youth court,” he told WLBT.
“My priority is making sure that everything I say or do related to this case is in Carly’s best interests,” he continued. “I believe she’s been chewed up and spit out by the criminal justice system, and I will do everything in my power to make that right.”
Murphy also spoke with the Clarion Ledger after that and said it could take up to a year and a half before the defense team receives a decisions from the court on the matter. He called the verdict Carly received an “unjust outcome.”
“Carly was 15 years old at the time she went to trial. She was 14 at the time when this happened. She’s serving life without the possibility parole. That’s just a harsh penalty … I’ve got five kids. I’ve got kids her age. When I look at her, I see my kids. So, I felt moved to try to help rectify that injustice,” he said.
He told the Ledger that he wasn’t sure yet what his legal strategy would be, only that he would do what he could to provide “some relief” for his client.
“We will research this case to death,” he said.
That research, he added, will include looking into any mistakes made during the investigation and trial which could secure Carly a new trial.
“This case went from the incident on March 19, 2024, to trial in September 2024, in a record amount of time. I’ve never seen a case of this magnitude travel through the justice system in that short span of time,” he remarked.
He said he believed “there were some mistakes made along the way.”
“We think there were some mistakes made at the trial level. We’re looking at all different angles — prosecution, defense attorneys and the judge as well — to determine exactly where those mistakes were made. We feel confident that she did not get a fair trial,” Murphy explained.
He gave some insight into the appeals process to the Ledger, as well. On March 28, 2025, a court clerk certified the record to state all transcripts were complete. On April 10, Murphy sent a 14-day extension notice requesting more time to review the record. Once the defense has determined all necessary information is present, the state will be able to review the record.
When both parties fully brief the issues and submit their arguments and factual evidence to support their sides, the Supreme Court will have time to render an opinion. Murphy noted that as of April 14, 2025, this stage has not been met.
After all that, Murphy says he expects there will be a new trial.
“This is going to be a challenge,” he said. “Rest assured, I enjoy challenges. That’s one of the reasons I decided to take on this case.”
The Crime
On March 19, 2024, Ashley drove Carly to and from school. Sometime during the day, prosecutor Kathryn Newman told the court during the trial that a concerned friend of Carly’s went to Ashley and confided in her about Carly’s drug use and secret phones. He and Carly had gotten into an altercation that morning, during which he said that Carly had cussed him out.
At 3:30 p.m., Ashley drove her and Carly home. They arrived just before 4 p.m. Inside, Carly let the two family dogs out into the yard via the back door. While she was downstairs, Newman said that Ashley went into Carly’s room to begin searching it. She found four boxes of vape pens and took them to her own bedroom upstairs, then returned to Carly’s room to continue her search.
Meanwhile, Newman said that Carly came inside and went straight to her mother’s room, where she took out the .357 Magnum handgun Ashley kept in a bedside cabinet. Concealing the weapon behind her back, Newman said that Carly then made her way downstairs, through the kitchen, then went to her own bedroom. The prosecutor said this was when Carly raised the gun and fired three shots into her mother’s head, killing her.
Newman said Carly hid the gun behind her when she crossed the kitchen once more to sit on a stool, pick up her mother’s phone, and text her stepfather and pretend she was her mother.
“When will you be home, honey?”
Heath replied and said he would be home a little later, to which Carly, still posing as her mother, sent a thumbs up emoji. In the time before Heath arrived home, Carly called five to six friends and asked if they could come to the house and help her, though didn’t tell anyone why.
At the preliminary hearing in April 2024, Rankin County investigator Zachary Cotton showed the court a video of these moments following the shooting, taken from home security footage, according to People Magazine. The video shows Carly, seemingly nonchalant, entering the kitchen after allegedly murdering her mother, picking up the phone and texting someone. Another video, Cotton said, showed Carly “singing to her dog” before texting a friend to come over.
One friend did come over, Newman said. The friend Carly was having an emergency, but had no idea what she was walking into. Newman explained that the friend arrived and Carly answered the door.
This witness, who remains unnamed due to their age, testified on Sept. 17, WAPT reports.
“She said, ‘Have you ever seen a dead body? Does it make you squeamish?’ Then she was like, ‘My mom’s in there,’ and I peeked my head in the door. (Ashley Smylie) had her arms crossed and a towel over her head,” they said.
Newman told the court that Carly allegedly bragged to her friend about the murder.
“I put three in my mom and I got three more waiting for my stepdad when he gets home,” Carly allegedly said.
The witness added that she heard Heath pull up to the house, but didn’t warn him about what had happened inside.
Newman said Carly allegedly tried to shoot him as he came in before she fled out into the backyard. Another video released shows Carly and her friend jumping the back fence and running down the alley.
“Everything seemed pretty normal. I came on in and when I opened the door to the kitchen there, a gun went off in my face before the door — I don't know — was 3 or 4 inches wide,” Heath Smylie testified on Sept. 17 (also on CourtTV). “Everything went kind of fast from then. It’s a blur.”
Defense attorney Bridget Todd, in her opening statement, revealed Heath’s belief that Carly didn’t recognize him in the moments he first walked in the door.
“Carly was so terrified when Heath Smylie got home on March 19 that even after Carly left the house, Heath walked around the house with the hand gun in his hand, looking for an intruder,” Todd said.
Troubled teen or a young girl suffering an “invisible” mental illness?
“This is not a ‘whodunit’ case,” Todd said in her opening statement. “We know who took action on March 19 to bring about the death of Ashley Smylie and the injuries to Heath Smylie. However, this is a ‘why’ case.”
Todd, during opening statements, posed the question of why a teenage girl, loved by friends and teachers, who had a good home life, and no history of violence, would suddenly murder her mother and try to kill her stepfather. She told the court that Carly had been suffering from a mental illness no one knew she had, not even her parents.
“While the events on March 19 were tragic, the events on March 19 were not intentional,” Todd said.
Carly had a “loving, close relationship” with her mother, Todd added, pointing out that Heath continues to stand by her in the aftermath of the alleged murder. Ashley’s life revolved around Carly, Todd said.
Todd told the court that the prosecution’s story is “filled with inconsistencies because they aren’t telling the full story,” and that Carly never had any desire to hurt anyone before that day.
As for the texts and calls Carly made following the shooting, Todd said that “a hysterical Carly called her closest friends, begging them to help her.”
Todd also points out there is no evidence that Carly had a drug problem or that Carly and Ashley had any arguments that day, or that Ashley was even mad at Carly at the end of the day. The defense attorney added that the accusations of her so-called secret life are also unfounded.
“The evidence will not show that Carly had a secret life, but rather was a teenager who had a life that her parents didn’t know everything about,” she said.
Todd then delved into the history of mental illness in Carly’s family. Carly was “concerned something was wrong with her” before the shooting, and wrote journal entries.
When Heath testified, Newman asked him about Carly’s biological father and his alleged drug use. He explained that Carly admitted her father used drugs in front of her constantly and blew smoke in her face. He allegedly made Carly drink an entire beer when she was only 12. Drugs would be present in his house during visitations, as well.
Heath noted that Carly was scared of her own father, that “she was not herself for a day or two after coming back.”
Ashley, he said, was also scared of Carly’s father. Despite this, Ashley and Heath had a loving marriage, and Ashley and Carly were close.
“They got along great, loved doing things together. They liked a lot of the same movies. They’d go shopping together. They stayed together quite a bit,” Heath testified.
The only point of contention in the mother and daughter relationship seemed to be social media. Heath noted that Ashley was strict about Carly being on social media apps, being aware of what could happen to teenage girls online. Carly had an old iPod onto which she downloaded TikTok. Heath said she would watch “the usual stupid videos.”
Newman clarified that the “burner phones” that had previously been discussed had, in fact, been the old iPod. Carly was in the tenth grade when her mother found out about it, “sometime last fall,” Heath said.
He added that Carly “loved school but she was almost bored with school a lot of days” despite taking advanced classes.
“She was a light year ahead of everything they’re teaching,” he said.
The defense has yet to disclose which mental illness Carly may have, and no diagnosis has been revealed. However, WAPT reports that at a hearing in August 2024, a psychologist who performed a mental evaluation on Carly for the prosecution testified that medications prescribed to the teen may have had a hand in Carly’s sudden alleged violent acts on March 19.
“It seems that medications are going to be relevant to her mental state at the time of the alleged offense. As a psychologist, I do not have expertise in medications,” said Dr. Amanda Gugliano.
The defense noted that Carly’s doctor changed her medications a week before the shooting, WAPT adds. Carly was deemed competent to stand trial. Still, the defense said they would hire another professional to evaluate Carly’s mental state.
It only took two hours of deliberations for the jury to find Gregg guilty of murder, but it came after they had to choose between that or not guilty by reason of insanity.
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Sources
WLBT
WAPT
WJTV