Teen Acts Innocent in Court — Then the Video Plays

She sits in a Mississippi courtroom with a smile on her face. She doesn’t look nervous. She doesn’t look scared. If anything, she looks like someone expecting to walk out of the courthouse, not hear a verdict that could keep her in prison for the rest of her life. Karli Gregg is convinced  the jury will believe her.

Her attorneys argue that she suffered a psychotic break, that voices overwhelmed her mind, and that she couldn’t fully understand what she was doing. For a while, it looks like the jury is listening. People begin asking the same question. Could a 14-year-old girl really have planned a crime like this? Then, the prosecutor plays a single piece of evidence, and in just a few minutes,  the entire case looks different.

 Ladies and gentlemen, she is dangerous.  March 19th, 2024. This is 40-year-old Ashley Smiley and her 14-year-old daughter Karli Gregg. Home security cameras  capture them pulling into the driveway after school. From the outside, everything looks normal. No argument, no shouting, just another afternoon.

Ashley has no idea these are the last moments of her life. Minutes later, that same camera captures the piece of evidence that will become  the center of the entire trial. Karli walks back into the kitchen, calm, unhurried. She hides the gun from the cameras and starts waiting. Not for the police, for her stepfather, because according to prosecutors, her plan wasn’t over yet.

 Ma’am, what’s the location of the emergency?  I want I was 14. I don’t even know what happened. My wife is dead.  What’s going on?  daughter tried to shoot me.  Your daughter tried to shoot you?  Yeah. She [laughter] shot her. Tell me what happened.  What’s her name?  I don’t even know her name. Carli Gregg.

 Carli Gregg? Does she still have a gun on her?  I took it from her. She ran.  You took it from her and she ran?  Yes, sir. She was screaming something at me. I couldn’t understand. I locked the door. She’s outside. I don’t know what’s going on.  How old is she?  14.  To understand what happens on March 19th, 2024, we need to go back several months.

At 14, no one imagines Carli will eventually be sitting in a courtroom on trial for murder. She’s a freshman at Northwest Rankin High School in Brandon, Mississippi, where her mother, Ashley Smiley, teaches math. Teachers describe Carli as polite and intelligent. Friends remember her as funny, kind, and easy to talk to.

Ashley is a respected math teacher and a devoted mother. After divorcing Carli’s biological father, Kevin Gregg, who struggles with mental illness and drug addiction, she raises Carli largely on her own. In 2020, she marries Heath Smiley, who quickly forms a close bond with Carli. But by early 2024,    the people closest to Carli begin noticing a change.

Sleep becomes difficult. Carley grows quieter and more withdrawn. Heath later testifies that he discovered she had been cutting herself, hiding the injuries beneath her clothes. Her parents also discover burner phones, marijuana vaping, and a secret relationship with an older boyfriend. As the changes become harder to ignore, Ashley and Heath seek professional help.

Carley starts therapy and is prescribed Zoloft for anxiety and depression. Then, just 6 days before the shooting, after telling her provider the medication leaves her feeling emotionally numb,    she switched to Lexapro. Around the same time, she begins describing voices in her head, feelings of unreality, and disturbing thoughts she can’t stop.

One week before the shooting, she writes in her journal, “I think I had a psychotic break earlier. I actually spoke with one of the voices in my head. My particular friend and I were practically  screaming bloodthirstily and ravenously. I sound crazy.” Months later, those words  are read aloud in a courtroom.

To the defense, the journal shows a teenager losing touch with reality. To prosecutors, those same words point to planning, not psychosis.  The argument was that Carley didn’t believe any of the things that she wrote, that she was just doing this because she’s so intelligent, she’s so smart, that she wanted to lay out this sort of trail for her insanity defense.

And in one of Carley’s diary entries, she wrote about her core beliefs. They were one, there is no God. Two, heaven and hell are false. Three, love is important. Four, you don’t need family. Five, writing your own destiny.    Six, loving yourself. Seven, having friends is important. Eight, don’t belong to anything.

 Nine, never be alone. 10, go to your place of comfort often. 11, sometimes you must blend in but never forget. 12, it’s okay to be evil. 13, sometimes you must jump into the dark to truly see the light. 14, privacy is not loneliness. And the final one, number 15, death is inevitable.  Six days after writing those words, Carly comes home from school with her mother.

Just before 4:00 p.m., Ashley and Carly arrive home from school. After learning about the burner phones and marijuana earlier that day, Ashley heads to Carly’s bedroom to search through her belongings. Carly turns toward the master bedroom. Hidden beneath the mattress is Ashley’s .357  magnum. She takes the revolver, hides it behind her back,    and quietly walks toward her own bedroom where Ashley is still searching.

 Carly perks  up. She listens. She’s calm. She’s like an FBI agent almost. If I were watching a movie, I would think this kid is like an FBI agent at the scene of the crime ready to go. She’s  alert, cool, calm, collected. She’s not pacing around like the dogs are. She just grabs behind her back and then gets out of there.

 Briskly walks to  the right side again. In fact, the dogs are looking at her trying to figure out what to do. They’re terrified. Their tails are down. They’re very panicked. And by the time that Carly comes back, her mom is dead. To me, that sounds like an intact motor  function. It shows coordination and it suggests a specific intent.

 She did not walk to the kitchen and grab a banana, which is something that many psychotic patients would do  like when they’re in psychosis in a state of psychosis. A lot of the times when people are in a state of psychosis, they don’t harm others, they end up harming themselves by accident.  She walks directly to where the sole object is that could kill her mother, retrieves it, in a very methodical manner she peeks around the corner while hiding this object.

 These are high-functioning things that take several areas of the brain. It’s almost predatory, in my opinion.  Rather than calling 911, Carly returns to the kitchen and sits down. She begins messaging and FaceTiming several friends, telling them she’s done something terrible. When one friend suggests calling 911,  Carly refuses.

 Instead, she asks, “Do dead bodies make you squeamish?” The friend later testifies that  Carly says, “I put three in my mom. I’ve got three more for my stepdad. He’s on his way home now.” Around 5:00 p.m., Heath Smiley pulls into the driveway, believing he’s coming home to an ordinary evening. He isn’t. The moment Heath steps through the door, Carly opens  fire.

Despite being wounded, Heath rushes toward her and manages to wrestle the gun  away. Bleeding and still trying to understand what has happened, he reaches for his phone and calls 911.  My god, she killed her mom.  She  She what?  She what?  She what?  She killed her mom.  She killed her mom? Where Where’s the mom at?  She shot my mom, and now she’s trying to kill me.

 Where’s the mom at? Sir. Sir. Sir.  Oh my god, why?  Okay, sir. Where is your Where is your wife?  She’s dead [clears throat] on the floor of my daughter stepdaughter’s room.  By the time deputies arrive, dispatch already knows who they’re looking for. Heath has identified his 14-year-old stepdaughter, Carly Gregg, as the person who shot him, killed Ashley, and fled the house.

Just a few streets away, deputies spot Carly standing near a drainage ditch. She doesn’t run. She doesn’t resist. With Carly now in custody, investigators begin collecting evidence.    They swab both of her hands for gunshot residue.  I just need to step back, okay?  I don’t know, baby.

 I can’t talk to you about that.  Months later, that afternoon comes back to life inside a courtroom. One by one, prosecutors replay the evidence. From the defense table, Carly watches every  second alongside the jury.  Uh who who was pointing that gun at you?  It was Carly.  She shot Ashley. What’s Hey, come on. Shut up.

Hey, come here. Hey, where’s your wife at, buddy? Where’s your wife at?  SHE’S DEAD ON THE FLOOR in that room.  What you saw.  She was laying on her back and had her hands kind of across her and um a uh a towel over her face. I checked her pulse and see and I knew she had been shot. Uh there was blood around, but I don’t really recall exactly where, somewhere in the right side of her face.

 Hello. Yes, sir. Lonnie Meguiar here.  Things seemed pretty normal and came on in and when I opened the door to the kitchen there uh hmm gun went off in my face before the door was I don’t know, 3 or 4 inches wide open. And uh everything kind of kind of went pretty fast from there. It was a blur.  All right.

I need you to tell me what did your son wear?  He’s  [laughter]  He’s got a grayest t-shirt. He’s got shorts. Brandy’s hair is uh  He’s got a grayest t-shirt.  Short brown hair.  She ran into the backyard. I tried to follow her. She jumped the She’s got a gun.  She’s got the  Is that okay?  Does she still have the gun?  It’s on the kitchen counter.

 I think it’s one live round that’s sitting out on the counter. I let her in the BACK DOOR. SHE TRIED TO SHOOT ME.  She was screaming out of her for her mind scared. Uh it was like she had seen a demon or something. She was terrified. And my first thought was there was an intruder somewhere and she thought she was after somebody else.

 But he’s got a gun. She laid on the floor with the towel.  Do you remember telling anybody that you you know you were in such shock that you didn’t even try to shoot Carly back or anything like that.  No, it was very evident to me immediately that something was very, very off with Carly. Uh the way she was screaming, the way she looked.

Uh She was moving so fast.  Her name is Carly.  Carly, C A R L Y.  C A R L Y.  Carly Madison Gregg, G R E G G.  G R E G G?  She’s my stepdaughter. All right. Her dad lives in Starkville. And we’re having all kinds of problems with him. I mean,  Okay.  drugs and alcohol.  What What is your name, sir?  Gregg.

Smylie.  Is it Smylie? Okay.  Um but at any point, did you  ever tell anyone that it was someone other than Carly Gregg that had shot you or  Ashley?  Not that I recall, ma’am.  Um and and to this day, you you’ve not told anyone that you think that the person that shot you or shot Ashley was somebody other than Carly, have you?  No.

 If I believe she’s going to kill my dogs.  So, we’ll we’ll take care of that, okay?  You can let them in the kennel. You can go go take care of the dogs, okay?  Do you think that if someone shoots at me unprovoked, that that’s a violent offense?  Uh I guess so. It really depends on the circumstances.

 Again, unprovoked. I’m walking into this courtroom and out of nowhere, assuming closest to the door, as soon as I open it, pulls out a gun and fires it at me. Is that a violent offense?  Uh  it could be. Depends on the circumstances.  You said that Carly you never saw her get mad or yell.  I have never seen Carly just angry or anything.

 Never?  No, ma’am.  I feel like it’s also kind of a universal experience as a teenager  to be caught with something that you shouldn’t have such as like alcohol or weed. A lot of people don’t go and grab a gun and then kill their parents for it. A lot of people usually just accept the punishment and move on.

 But in this case, Carly reacted very, very violent and very scary.  There was little dispute about the sequence of events. The real battle  centered on Carly’s state of mind. To support its insanity defense, the defense called forensic psychiatrist Dr. Andrew Clark.  It was my impression that Carly had to a very large extent always been well-behaved, was a dutiful girl, sought to do well in school, sought to please her mother by doing well in school, um, and then in the last perhaps year, um, developed some what I took to be

relatively um, um, um, common teenage behaviors such as staying up past curfew on a burner phone to text with friends, for example. I think one on one occasion she snuck out at night after curfew to go visit a friend. Um, and then and then, um, uh, in addition in the last perhaps 6 weeks prior to the arrest she began smoking marijuana.

Now, she told me that the only thing the voices said to her were things that were um,    um um kind of elitist, like you’re better than those people. Like that’s the only thing she told me    uh they said. So, I think two other ones that I ruled out in particular, one is that Carly may have just panicked.

Right? That she’s emotionally fragile.  This is a big deal that that her mo- her mother finding out. That in the moment and she’s a teenager, right? In the moment she just panicked and did something heedless. You hear the shots, she comes in. She looks to me to be cool and collected and unemotional. Um I would have expected, had she panicked, that she would be quite agitated and emotionally aroused.

 You didn’t see that at all. I mean, even even that is, you know, somewhat incomprehensible. It’s But why in the world would she then plan an hour later to shoot her stepfather? That that makes that makes no sense to me. Um why would she invite friends over over to the house? So, to me, her emotional flatness in particular and the sort of the the the the the continuation of the of the plan um just just didn’t didn’t make any sense.

 I think Carly has a much more severe psychiatric illness than anybody realized and that that she was able to acknowledge or even that she’s able to acknowledge today. And that that combined with her history of dissociation sort of created this terrible situation.  I believe those tears are real tears. I just don’t believe this was mental illness.

 Would I say out of all the insanity defenses that I’ve researched before, is this a good one? I would say it’s probably one of the worst ones. Worst ones.  We believe the evidence will show that there were three victims on March 19th.  Ashley Smiley, Heath Smiley, and Carly Smiley. And Carly Gregg. That they were all three victims.

 But these defense attorneys were very questionable.  Really?  Yeah, I think they were probably yeah, one of the worst defense attorneys I’ve seen.  Mhm.  Yeah.  By the time both sides rested, the jury had heard two very different explanations for the same crime. Only one would shape Karli Grieg’s future.

 You the jury have found the defendant guilty of the crime of first-degree murder in count one. You must now decide whether to impose either a life a sentence of life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections or life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections with the possibility of parole.

 The court instructs the jury that you should consider the following factors in making your decision. One, the defendant’s chronological age. Two, the defendant’s family home and environment. Three, the circumstances of the homicide offense. Four, the defendant’s incompetencies and incompetencies associated with youth. And five, the defendant’s possibility of rehabilitation.

The court instructs the jury that when all 12 of you reach and agree upon the defendant’s sentence for first-degree murder, she you shall return the sentence in one of the following forms. If you agree to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections, your verdict will be as follows, quote, count one, at quote, as to count one, we the jury sentence the defendant Karli Masson Grieg to life imprisonment, close quote.

If you agree to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections with the possibility of parole, your verdict will be as follows, quote, as to count one, we the jury sentence the defendant Karli Masson Grieg to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, close quote.

If you cannot agree to the sentence for the defendant as the first-degree murder, your verdict will be as follows, quote, as to count one, we the jury are unable to fix the punishment, close quote. You the jury having have found the defendant guilty of the crime of attempted murder in count two. You must now decide whether to impose either a sentence of life imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections or life imprisonment in the in the custody of Department of Corrections with the possibility of

parole.  For Ashley’s family, the verdict brought justice. For Carly’s defense team, it marked the beginning of another fight.  I I mean we’re we’re disappointed on both the guilt phase and the the sentencing. We thought that I guess we were we were positive and then when it came time for the the guilt phase we figured you know, that we had a good chance to try to get her some mental help because this was a mental issue case.

 The defense has since appealed the conviction  arguing key mental health evidence should have been admitted. For now, however, Carly Gregg remains behind bars serving  life in prison for the murder of her mother. Let us know in the comments below. If you enjoy in-depth true crime documentaries based on real court records,  witness testimony, and body camera footage, don’t forget to subscribe.

 Thanks for watching and  we’ll see you in the next case.