Attorney: Teen accused of killing mother threatened in jail

BRANDON, Miss. (Court TV) — A teenage girl accused of murdering her mother and trying to kill her stepfather will remain in an adult detention facility despite safety concerns raised by her attorney.

Carly Gregg appears in court for a motions hearing on July 2, 2024. (Court TV)

Carly Gregg, 15, is charged with murder and attempted murder for allegedly shooting Ashley and Heath Smylie on March 19 at the family’s home.

Gregg allegedly shot her mother twice in the head and then invited a friend over to show her the body. Heath told police that he arrived home to find his wife on the floor and Gregg standing in the kitchen with a handgun. He was shot in the shoulder.

At Tuesday’s motions hearing, Judge Dewey Arthur granted the prosecution’s motion to have a mental health expert do an evaluation of Gregg. Bridget Todd, Gregg’s attorney, had requested the prosecution’s expert wait until after their own expert finished their work with the defendant, noting that Gregg had struggled in solitary confinement and had been given a number of different medications.

Despite her age, Gregg has been held at the Rankin Detention Center, an adult facility. Under Mississippi law, teen defendants are continuously evaluated to determine whether they should remain in adult detention. When the issue was brought up on Tuesday, Todd alerted the judge to an incident at the jail, where “an adult inmate who was being housed in the same pod area as Carly was making threats to harm and physically assault” her.

Judge Arthur ruled that Gregg should stay at the Rankin County Detention Center, noting that “it’s jokingly referred to as the ‘Hilton of jails’ throughout the state of Mississippi. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department runs a very safe jail.”

Prosecutors noted they had received additional information relevant to Gregg’s past, namely that she had brought “contraband, possibly a knife” to school in Sept. 2021. No further details were offered on the incident.

Gregg is currently scheduled to stand trial in September.