Carly Gregg’s prosecutor reacts to the defense’s motion for a new trial

RANKIN COUNTY, Miss. (WLBT) – Days after a defense attorney told the court that Carly Gregg’s biological father refused to cooperate in his daughter’s defense, a prosecutor in the case said there was nothing he could to have added

“From our point of view, Carly hadn’t spoken to him for a year and a half, so in terms of proving his guilt, there was really no reason to cite (Kevin Gregg),” the prosecutor said. district assistant Kathryn Newman. “That’s why we didn’t contact him personally.”

In September, a jury sentenced Carly to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the shooting death of her mother, Ashley Smylie. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of her stepfather, Heath Smylie, and tampering with evidence.

The 15-year-old is currently being held in a juvenile detention facility under the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections.

Since her conviction, Gregg’s attorneys have continued to make news, with Bridget Todd asking Rankin County Judge Dewey Arthur to overturn the verdict or grant a new trial, arguing that Carly was not tried by a jury of his colleagues and that new evidence had arrived. to light in an unaired portion of a WLBT interview about Carly’s mental health.

Todd told the court that Carly’s father, Kevin Gregg, admitted to 3 On Your Side that his daughter was put into equestrian therapy because she was hearing voices.

However, a thorough review of the transcript of the aired and unaired portions of Gregg’s interview shows that Carly’s father never discussed equestrian therapy.

“If I filed something that I later learned (was incorrect), whether it was intentional or not, I would file an amended pleading stating that new information has come to light, which does not appear to be accurate,” he said. “Lying in court is a punishable action, but again, it would have to be intentional.”

“I would hope, based (on) the hypothetical situation you’re talking about, that whoever did it had some justification for why they said what they said,” said Digital Desk host Cara Shirley. “They should answer in court why they put something like that in a statement.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, no additional documents had been posted on the Rankin County Circuit Court website.

(READ: Exclusive interview with Kevin Gregg – the unedited version)

Meanwhile, Newman said defense attorneys were already aware that Carly had participated in equestrian therapy as a youngster.

Medical records show he was four or five years old at the time and his parents were going through a divorce. Therapy had been ordered by the court to help Carly cope.

As for hearing voices, Newman said, “They weren’t mentioned until nine days after she was arrested.”

“There is not a single record or anything about hearing voices, about having time lapses, about having problems with any kind of voices, no personality, anything of that nature,” he said. “The only thing in his medical history before that time was anxiety and depression.”

Carly was arrested in March after shooting her mother, a Rankin County teacher, and shooting her stepfather. Carly shot her mother three times with a .357 Magnum. He then texted Heath Smylie using his mother’s phone to let him know when he was coming home.

The teenager then contacted friends, saying he had hurt himself, and it was “too late” when his friends told him not to hurt anyone else. Carly then told her friends not to call 911, hid the gun out of view of a camera in her Rankin County home and fled the crime scene, court records show.

A video of the house at the time of the shooting was played during the trial.

“You hear Carly get shot. You hear Ashley Smylie scream. You hear Carly get shot again. You hear a thump, which we think… that’s when Ashley fell and hit the ground, and then about four seconds go by and another shot is heard,” Newman said. “There were dots on that shot, and that means the gun was (less than three feet) from her when she was shot. Actually, thirty inches, a little less than three feet.

After texting her stepdad, she sends him a “thumbs up” emoji and starts humming.

Defense attorneys tried to show that Carly suffered from mental problems and was not in her right mind at the time of the shooting. They also argued that Carly did not recognize her stepfather when he shot her in the neck.

Newman refuted this in a presentation last week, pointing to a text where Carly told friends, she “put three on her mother and had three more waiting for her stepfather.” She also said that Carly asked her how her stepfather was after she was arrested, meaning she was aware of who the victims were.

“She immediately kills her mom, goes straight to the kitchen, and when she texts Heath, that’s at 4:14… At 4:16, she starts texting with her friends. Her friend (who) got to her house at 4:58, texted and said, “I’m here.” So there’s a lot of time that Carly is texting text with friends, call back and Facetiming,” Newman said.

“This is not someone who is out of her mind. She responds to these people. She calls them by their proper name. She knows the names of their boyfriends and their girlfriends. She knows their nicknames. She is telling them: “I messed up. Don’t call 911, you can’t.”

“People don’t run because they don’t know what they’ve done is wrong,” he added. “We know that he fled the scene when he realized that…he was not successful in whether he killed Heath or not.”

The assistant district attorney also addressed other claims made in the new trial request, including the claim that Carly was not tried by a jury of her peers because all jurors were over 21 .

“I guess you make every argument you can find,” Newman said. “In the state of Mississippi, you have to be over 21 and be able to serve on a jury. And that’s pretty clear. … There’s nothing in the law … that (requires) you to be tried for a jury of peers (of) the same age. It basically says it has to be an eligible voter, so someone (who) is registered to vote, who lives in the county.”

“There was never any possibility of 14- and 15-year-olds being selected for jury duty.”

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