Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Girl Carly Gregg 'Shoots Mom in Face,' Convicted, Asks For New Trial

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A teen girl, Carly Gregg, reportedly shoots mommy in the face and then texts her friends to come see a dead body. In the last days, she hopes to convince a judge she deserves a new trial. With me here in the studio, Jackie Howard. Jackie, what can you tell me? Nancy convicted teen murderer Carly Gregg's motion for a new trial went before a Mississippi judge. Her attorney is asking for a new trial based on evidence revealed by her biological father in

Starting point is 00:00:47 an interview to news station WLBT. Kevin Gregg said that his daughter suffered auditory hallucinations as a child and was enrolled in equine therapy. The attorneys claimed that information from that interview would have led to a different decision by the jury. A do-over. Yes, a do-over. But what were the facts at trial? Listen. Okay, sir. Where is your wife? She's dead on the floor of my daughter's stepdaughter's room. She's on the floor in your stepdaughter's room? What's your wife's name? Ashley Smiley.

Starting point is 00:01:32 Ashley Smiley? Well, there are any problems? Sir, sir, I need you to speak with me, okay? Can you go outside the house and speak to me? Okay. That gut-wrenching 911 call of Mommy's husband finding her in the floor, shot in the face. No matter how many times I listen to a 911 call, when I hear the person calling in, it's almost disabling for the moment to hear that raw pain in their voice.

Starting point is 00:02:23 What more can we learn? Listen. Okay. So join me in all-star panel to make sense of what we know right now. Lauren Conlon, first to you, co-host Primetime Crime on YouTube. Lauren, who found mommy? Heath Smiley found his wife, Ashley Smiley, and that is Carly Gregg's stepfather. So the stepfather finds her, but yet, when we are listening to the Rankin County sheriffs on their body cam footage, one deputy says, that's mom. And this number two says, that's mom. Yeah. And then he goes, no, she, mom and dad both got it.

Starting point is 00:03:23 Mom and dad both got what? Got hit. Explain, Lauren Conlon. So when Heath Smiley walked into his house, he was met by Carly Gregg, who attempted to shoot him, got him in the shoulder as he fought her off. So immediately on the scene, they realize what they think has happened. Straight out to Catherine White Newman, Rankin County Assistant District Attorney. Before that, public defender, private practice in a wide variety of cases. Catherine, thank you for being with us.

Starting point is 00:04:04 You know, Catherine, when you hear defense attorneys say there's no playbook for grief. The husband's showing no emotion because he's in so much shock. Did you hear that 911 call, Catherine? I did, Nancy. That 911 call is one of the most chilling that I've heard on any type of case. He was in sheer shock and terror. We believe that he was certainly speaking the truth at that moment. You know, that really hit the nail on the head, Catherine White Newman, speaking the truth, regardless of emotion, lack of emotion, demeanor, response. If you can determine if they're telling the truth, and of course, we're not lie detectors. But when I hear a 911 call like that, it sounds genuine to me. Now, think about it, Katherine White Newman.

Starting point is 00:04:52 I'm sure you're familiar with the Alex Murdoch double murder trial in South Carolina, where he was kind of like, and then it would go away. And then he'd go again. It was kind of an intermittent kind of a whine. That's not what we're hearing right here. Is it Catherine? No, it's not. In fact, at the beginning of the call, the 911 dispatcher actually thought he was speaking to a woman. And Heath's voice was so high pitched because of the terror that he was in, um, that they again thought he was a woman. And it wasn't until he gave them his name that they realized they were talking to a man. Catherine White Newman has actually worked on this case, too.

Starting point is 00:05:33 Kevin Camp joining us, a veteran criminal defense attorney and lead lawyer in the case for Carly Gregg. And FYI, just so you know, former JAG military attorney. Guys, he's at CampLawFirm.com. Kevin Camp, question. How do you somehow, what do you do? You say to the jury, look here, not here. How do you do that when that 911 call is being played in front of the jury? Do you just sit there and pretend like you don't hear it?

Starting point is 00:06:03 Do you pull an OJ and act like you're taking notes when OJ's really writing? I did it, y'all. Okay, so what do you do when you're hearing that 911 call? At that point, just like what you said, you're trying to do something to deflect it away from your client and to move on from those issues as quickly as you possibly can. Sometimes you have the situation where, you know, look at the monkey, look at the silly monkey over here and, you know, and get whatever the issue is, you want to get off of that subject just as fast as you can. Oh, yes. And of course, from what I can understand about your trial record, Kevin Camp, you have certainly schooled your client how to behave in court. Here's a little example. I was trying a murder case. When I came into court, I had not seen it at the arraignment

Starting point is 00:06:59 calendar or any of the motions calendars. And I looked, but in a murder case, the defendant had shaved into the back of his head, hit man number one. You know how many times I went to the other side of the courtroom so he'd have to turn around and look that way so the jury could see the back of his head? Well, obviously his lawyer did not school him not to put that on the back of his head. Bottom line, I'm sure you have your clients schooled how to behave when damning evidence is pouring from the witness stand. Listen. I don't know what happened to my daughter, Dad. What's up?

Starting point is 00:07:46 What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up?

Starting point is 00:07:46 What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up?

Starting point is 00:08:04 What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? What's up? Did a 14-year-old girl shoot her mom dead, shoot her stepfather, and if so, why? They did everything possible to show her she's loved. And now I understand why Catherine White Newman is saying they thought they were speaking to a woman because Smiley, the stepfather, is in so much pain and shock from being shot and seeing his wife dead. His voice has gone into a whole nother octave. octave and he says she's 14 she ran away I want to show you some video that we

Starting point is 00:08:49 have obtained that's Carly Gregg in her home and from a trained eye I immediately noticed everything is spotless there she walks out of the view from the okay walking back across the den so far far, nothing in her hands. There are the dogs following her around. Everything as normal. I see her backpack. Oh, she's coming around the corner with something behind her back. Oh, what could it be? Okay. Not just one, but I think three gunshots. There's premeditation right there. That's plenty of time to form intent to kill. Here she comes back, gun still behind her back, and goes straight to her phone.

Starting point is 00:09:40 Why not? Mommy's dead. And she's texting. I wonder if that's when she texts. Hey, guys, you want to break out into song? She did, Nancy. She absolutely started humming at some point. And the person she was texting at that moment, that was her mother's, her dead mother's phone. She picked up that phone and text her stepdad and said, when will you be home, honey?

Starting point is 00:10:21 So she is luring, luring the stepdad to the scene? That's right. That's absolutely correct. She had her phone there, but she chose to use her mother's to text him to find out when he would be home. It's going to be very tough to show any type of mental defense when she texts the stepdad luring him home so she can shoot him dead. Burner phones, a vape stash, pot, and an angry teen. It's an explosive combination that leads to death. Mom? Yeah, I'm screaming in the house. Where's the mom? I'm not going to let you guys kill me. Where's the mom? Sir.

Starting point is 00:11:59 Sir. I'm so scared. You know, it's so hard to hear that raw pain and emotion by the stepdad finding his wife shot in the face. Just the outpouring, the screaming, the crying. She shot her mom and she's going to come back and kill me. And still this 911 person doesn't seem to understand what's going on. The 911 dispatch says she killed her mom and he goes, yes, that's what I've been trying to tell you this whole call. And now she's coming back to kill me. It's really going to be hard to make that mental defect, that mental defense. When we see Carly Gregg, 14 years old, sneaking around the house with a gun behind her back, sneaking into mom's area

Starting point is 00:12:53 and shooting mom in the face. There's three gunshots that we hear fired and then go straight to the phone and text stepdad, hey, from mom's phone, from mom's phone, another layer of deception, to lure him home. Let's stay on that one moment. When we introed, I heard the words, burner phones, pot, and an angry teen. Wait a minute. Straight out to Dr. William Maroney, longtime colleague and friend, renowned medical examiner, toxicologist, pathologist, opioid treatment expert, and author of a bestseller, American Narcan. It's about saving lives with Naloxone. Dr. Maroney, thank you for taking time from the morgue. I can't imagine who wants to tear themselves away from that. But that said, are we really going to blame pot here? That pot caused some kind of a mental defect? You're the toxicologist. I'm not buying it help me there's an awful lot of moral ethical and it's just a

Starting point is 00:14:07 terrible state of american mental health there's dissociative disease here dissociative disease let me dumb it down because i know not everybody's a doctor the idea that she has a mental health process that she's disconnected from thoughts, feelings, and identity to make this happen. This violence is the end result of dissociative disease. But guess what? Six times more likely psychosis with cannabis. So, OK, wait, hold on. Let me rephrase my question. Can I blame this on pot?

Starting point is 00:14:56 50-50. Mental illness and drugs together. Why? Wait, you're the medical examiner, right? Yes, but it's public health. Okay, do you have a degree that you've kept hidden from me in psychiatry? Yes, I'm writing a book called Sidewalk Psychiatry. You do not have a degree in psychiatry. I did study psychiatry in medical school. So, no. No, I'm going to argue with you. I can make these decisions. I see people with mental illness for 20 years. Well, I studied psychology. I had one course in it, but that doesn't make me Karen Stark.

Starting point is 00:15:32 Good. Okay, I differ. One little rotation with a psychiatric unit does not make you a psychiatrist. Just like my one class in psychology does not turn me into Karen Starr. But I've seen this mental health dilemma for 20 years. Using pot is not an excuse for shooting your mother and your stepfather. What? We have what we call three hit hypothesis, genetics, environment, and then drugs.

Starting point is 00:16:00 You add them all together and you get a terrible combination that leads to disrespect of life, dissociative disease, and then violent behavior that breaks laws. This is the breakdown of society. There's not enough mental health here and the lack of life. Oh, dear Lord in heaven. Now you're going to societal breakdown. I know there's societal breakdown. Guess what? They said that in Roman times. There will always be societal breakdown. I know there's societal breakdown. Guess what? They said that in Roman times,

Starting point is 00:16:25 there will always be societal breakdown. Okay. Not my problem right now. My problem right now is why did Carly Gregg shoot her mother? If she has a mental defect that I want her in a mental hospital. If she doesn't, I want her treated as an adult and tried for murder. It's really black and white. It really is. You're telling me that pot, I can blame pot for the murder. Is that what you're saying? It adds to the dissociative disease six times more than natural mental illness. The studies come from Scandinavia.

Starting point is 00:17:03 They followed conscripts for 20 years and the conscripts using this have six times more likely to have psychotic episodes. Period. Are you throwing a Scandinavian study at me and expecting me to let Curly Gregg walk for murdering her mother and then shooting her stepdaughter. You know what? Hold on. Hold on, Maroney. Katherine White Newman, isn't it true that just before Carly Gregg shot her mother in the face, I'm pretty sure I heard three gunshots.

Starting point is 00:17:39 As you know, you're a veteran prosecutor. Intent can be formed in the twinkling of a moment, the blink of an eye, the time it takes for you to pull a trigger under the law. You don't need a long, drawn-out plan, such as poisoning someone over a period of weeks and months. Raising the gun and pulling the trigger under our jurisprudence shows intent. We've got three of those here, but that said, in case the jury doesn't believe me, isn't it true? The mom was searching her room and she didn't like it. That's exactly right, Nancy. Not only do we know that because one of Carly's friends came forward to law enforcement that day at school, he had been concerned about Carly's use of burner phones and marijuana THC vape pens.

Starting point is 00:18:25 And so he confronted her mom to let her know about this secret life. And we know from Carly's evaluations that mom confronted her on the way home. And then from the video evidence inside the home, we know that mom went over to Carly's side of the house, removed some items, walked back to her bedroom at some point with them in her hand, and then walked back to the bedroom to continue searching. When law enforcement arrived on the scene and they were able to process the scene, they found four empty vape cartridge boxes, as well as Carly's burner phone. Okay. Catherine White Newman, you've got me drinking from the fire hydrant. Okay. That was so much information, but I did want to stop you. Could you say that again and slowly?

Starting point is 00:19:12 Because I'm making a flow chart here as to why this girl is not insane. I'm not saying she wasn't depressed. Not at all. I'm not saying she didn't have some type of mental issues. Don't all teenagers have some kind of mental issue? But that said, if she's truly mentally ill, I don't want her thrown into GP, general population. I want her treated, but I'm not convinced yet. I have one dead body, a mother, a devoted mother shot in the face. I have heard texting her friends, hey, you want to see a dead body? And this is after she lures stepdad home to shoot him. Now, my original

Starting point is 00:19:53 question, Ms. Newman, was, isn't it true mother was going to search her room? Yes, absolutely. That's true. Mom had gone into Carly's room. She was currently searching through her room when Carly came in and shot her three times in the head. From what we learned through law enforcement and also through the trial was that one of Carly's friends was so concerned about her secret life using burner phones as well as these marijuana THC vape pens that he confronted her mom at school that day to let her know that he was concerned about Carly. And so we also know from Carly's mental health evaluations, she reported that mom, in fact, did confront her on the way home about the drug use and the phones.

Starting point is 00:20:42 When law enforcement arrived at the scene to process it, they found four empty vape pen boxes that we assume that mom had removed from Carly's bedroom. On the video surveillance footage, mom Ashley Smiley is seen walking to Carly's side of the house and then has something in her hand and is seen walking to her bedroom and back. And so we certainly think that Ashley had found those vape pen boxes and quite frankly possibly Carly's burner phone before Carly came in and shot her mom three times in the face inside her bedroom. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Carly Gregg back in a courtroom trying to convince a judge she deserves a new trial.

Starting point is 00:21:38 What happened? Gunshots ring out. Carly Gregg caught on home surveillance running away. What happened? Did you see her running away right there? Can I just show that video one more time? And that's from out, you're looking through the garage and there she goes. Just so you know, that was dad's blue pickup. That was just stepdad coming home after she lured him there. Guys with me in all

Starting point is 00:22:06 star panel, we have the prosecutor on this case, Catherine White Newman, and the defense attorney who still has not given up on Carly Gregg, whether you agree with him or not. That's what our constitution is all about. He cares about one thing and one thing only doing everything he can within the law, I hope, to help his client. And if you're in trouble, that's kind of lawyer you want. But I got to tell you something, Kevin Camp, that text luring the stepdad and then the text going, Hey guys, what's the dead body shooting her mother twice in the face. And there's got to be some psychological story behind that. Once in the neck, and then shooting stepdad in the shoulder. It's going to be really tough to prove she has some type of mental defect when you see that.

Starting point is 00:22:58 And she runs. Flight shows evidence of guilt. Knowledge of guilt. How do you fight that? Yes, I know she uses Olaf. I get it. But how are you going to blame Pot? She texted her friends because she and asked them because she needed help. And so the text stream from all her friends was dealing with, you know, come over, I need help, you know, things of that nature. And they became concerned because they thought she was. You mean things of that nature. Whoopsie.

Starting point is 00:23:38 You mean when she said, hey, does a dead body bother you? That other text? That wasn't a text. That was not a text. It wasn't. Okay you? That other text? That wasn't a text. That was not a text. It wasn't. Okay, what was the text? What was that? That was when one of her friends, which you saw the friend running behind Carly in the video.

Starting point is 00:23:58 When that friend came over, then Carly made that comment. Brooke said Carly made that comment to her. And so that that's where that comes. That's not the that's not from the Texas. It'd be the second person. You know what? I'm glad you cleared that up, Kevin Camp. So am I supposed to assume that you think that's not as damning as texting it? She says to her friend, does dead body bother you? The other things that you ask about sort of what's going on and why we have these opinions on it, it's a mental defect and things of that nature. It's a lot of conversations that she's having with her friends. It's Texas conversations. It's things that she was writing in her diary that give us a glimpse of actually what was going on that nobody knew besides her friends that these issues were out there.

Starting point is 00:24:54 And then what you're seeing is everything sort of comes to a head on that March 19th day. You have the medication comes into play. You have, she already had issues. She was cutting, there had been cutting issues. There had been a lot of different mental things that were all going on. And that's where it all sort of comes together. One other thing that I want to sort of clarify, they talk about a burner phone. The burner phone is like just an old iPad that they had and that she was able to activate. So it's not like some, you know, nefarious phone. It was just one that she was texting her friends and stuff like that on. And there was a boyfriend that I think she was texting on that she didn't want her mom to know about is what I got.

Starting point is 00:25:45 So she's using an old iPad that mom and dad have discounted and she's using that surreptitiously? Yeah, that's what that's when we're talking about a burner phone. That's that's the talking to is this. There's a boyfriend who came in and testified that I think she had met him at some mathematics camp up at Mississippi State or something that summer before. And so that was that was where the Texas were going. You know, the nefarious Texas that everybody says she has a burner phone. Listen, immediately after the shooting, Carly uses her mom's phone to text Heath Smiley. You almost home, honey? Smiley replies he'll be home in about an hour. Carly then sends a text to six friends saying she's having an emergency and needs someone to come to her house. One friend

Starting point is 00:26:36 offers to call 911. Carly declines. Eventually, one friend agrees to come over. When Carly answers the door, she asks the girl, are you squeamish around dead bodies before leading the girl to her mom's body in her bedroom? What? Are you squeamish around dead bodies and then takes the friend to go look at mom's body? Catherine White Newman, did that happen? That did happen. One of the other things that has not been addressed is that one of the people she was texting with, as you just played, offered to call 911. She said, no, you can't do that. One of the other friends, she also FaceTimed with multiple people. So one of the other friends reported to law enforcement that he told her, don't hurt yourself or someone

Starting point is 00:27:21 else. And as soon as he got out or someone else, she said it was too late. She also FaceTimed with the same friend who had offered to call 911, and she said you can't do that. Our assumption is because we knew that she wanted to try to kill stepdad too, she didn't want her plans interrupted. But she also explained to him that she had effed up, again, indicating to us, of course, Nancy, that she did, in fact, know right from wrong. All of these actions, the fact that she kept telling these

Starting point is 00:27:50 friends, I can't tell you why I need you to come over. I just need help. Let's go to Karen Stark, renowned psychologist, TV radio trauma expert, consultant at karenstark.com. That's Karen with a C if you're looking for her. Okay, Karen. The only other fact I want to throw in is Carly had been on Zoloft and switched to Lexapro. I don't know if that had anything to do with it, but I can tell you this, Karen Stark, if it did and the defense is using that prescription drug, everybody in Rikers is going to walk free because they're all going to say, hey, I was on Lexapro. Well, Nancy, I read that she was taking a very small dose, and there's no way that that led to psychotic behavior. I also want to talk about a disassociated state that Dr. Moroney kept mentioning. There's no

Starting point is 00:28:48 way that she's in a disassociated state. I don't even know where that comes from. She is very aware of what she's doing. She knows right from wrong. She knows to take her mother's phone and to get in touch with the stepfather and even use her mother's voice and say, honey, are you coming back soon? Her own counselor who saw her the day before said that her mental state was fine. She knows the difference between right and wrong. She knows to walk quietly into her mother's room. She understands to text her friends. She runs away after she attempts to kill

Starting point is 00:29:28 her stepfather. So this is someone who is a psychopath. This is not a disassociative state. It's not because of the medicine. It's very, very clear. She's an angry teenager who got caught and decides, well, I'll just go ahead and kill both of them Lauren Collins joining me co-host of primetime crime on YouTube which is incredible Lauren Lauren is it true that when everyone arrived at the scene they found mommy dead shot three times which I'm gonna have to go to Maroney on this. That's overkill. Two times in the face, one time in the neck, but Carly Gregg had lain a towel over her mother's face. That's correct, Nancy. She did lay a towel over her mother's face. And I just, I want to add that

Starting point is 00:30:21 Ashley Smiley was an incredibly devoted parent, Nancy. And Carly Gregg, like Kevin said, was brilliant. She skipped a grade at 13. She scored a 30 on her ACT. And that towel right there combined with everything else, in my opinion, does show that she did know right from wrong. She perhaps did not want to look at what she did to her mother after she shot her three times in the face so she put a towel over her. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Starting point is 00:31:03 Did a 14-year-old girl shoot her mom dead, shoot her stepfather, and if so, why? In the last hours, she hopes to convince a judge she deserves a new trial. But what were the facts at trial? Listen. Dr. William Maroney, again, renowned medical examiner, toxicologist, pathologist, and author. Dr. Maroney, this all starts over vaping and pot. Mom goes into the room after getting tipped off by a friend of her daughter's and pulls out four vapes, empty. Explain what that means. What are your thoughts?

Starting point is 00:31:48 It's really important to recognize that THC is just as much a drug, just because it's legal, as something like amphetamine or Oxycontin, and regular exposure rewires the brain. And you're not dealing with an adult brain of a 27-year-old. You're dealing with the brain of a child. And if there's been THC involved since it's 11, 12, 13 years old, you have what we call arrested emotional development. So this knowing

Starting point is 00:32:23 the difference between right and wrong in a child, that's insane. Dr. William Maroney, chilling in court. And you've got Kevin Camp sitting right beside her, standing by her till the bitter end. And you see Curly Gregg, the 14-year-old girl, giggling in court, trying to stifle a giggle in court after she is accused of murdering her mother. So, Kevin Camp, that is damning. What do you do when your client starts laughing during a murder trial? Well, I think it depends on, you know, what time you're talking. That was a five-day trial. There were numerous times where she was crying when she was given or when there were a lot of photos and things that we had talked to her about, but we had not prepared

Starting point is 00:33:27 her for those or we had not shown them to her. And so when they came out in court, she became very, very emotional about that. So if you're asking, you know, you want, the perception is you want the people to believe that this individual is truly concerned about what's going on. So when you're saying she was giggling, I would have to put that in perspective of when that happened. I know it wasn't during any of the testimony or anything like that. Long trials that are very intense. Kevin. Kevin.

Starting point is 00:34:04 Yes. I never want to be a defense attorney, but I have to say, I really admire you fighting your way out of this paper bag because she's laughing in court in the murder of her mother. And you actually said

Starting point is 00:34:19 that you're defending her. And you said, well, it kind of depends on, you know, the testimony at the moment. Did she not see the gruesome crime scene photos of her mother dead, but somehow she manages a giggle? She doesn't. She's not giggling then. In fact, when those were being shown, she was crying. She was visibly upset when all that was happening. As far as this giggling, I don't know what time frame we're talking about. But it certainly was not in those time frames because I know what her reaction was then. The bio dad standing by her and defending her.

Starting point is 00:35:02 I have just received this motion for a new trial. This is SOP, standard operating procedure. Once you get a, once the defense gets a guilty verdict, or in this case, a verdict of not insane or mentally ill, you immediately file a motion for a new trial. And you try to convince the judge that's just just ruled against you that he she was all wrong and to give us a redo. That rarely happens because no judge, even if they are wrong, is ever going to admit it. After this is denied, then the defense will start a legitimate appeal to a higher court. So, Catherine White Newman, what happened at the trial? I believe that the evidence showed that Carly Gregg was, in fact, guilty of murder, attempted murder, and tampering

Starting point is 00:35:52 with physical evidence. We heard from Dr. Gugliano, as well as Dr. Pickett, on behalf of the state, who testified that Carly Gregg was competent to stand trial, and then that Carly Gregg was competent to stand trial and then that Carly Gregg was not, in fact, insane at the time. The judge allowed Dr. Andrew Clark to testify on behalf of the defendant. It's the state's argument, and we stand by this, that he actually did not testify to the proper standard. He did not actually meet the qualifications to testify as an expert in this case. However, the jury did get to hear from him. He talked about the fact that Carly had apparently experienced a disassociated state and that she blacked out from the time that she let her dogs out until the time that she came to

Starting point is 00:36:38 in the sewer. Interestingly, Dr. Clark said that his opinions were just hypotheses. And also there were times that Carly knew right from wrong during some of her actions. And so we believe the jury got it right. I mean, these ladies and gentlemen used their common sense and heard from these experts. And there was just no testimony that Carly, in fact, did not know right from wrong. Kevin Kemp, you just heard Katherine White Newman just off the top of her head spin out so many seemingly damning facts. She didn't even have to look at her notes for Pete's sake. You are convinced that this girl, then 14-year-old Carly, is ill, that she has some sort of a mental illness. I want to hear your defense because, again, I do not want someone mentally ill thrown in with GP. Tell me your best shot. Uh, first and foremost, I would say Dr. Clark was a, uh, much more experienced, uh, psychiatrist

Starting point is 00:37:47 than either of the two states, uh, psychiatrists in this situation. In fact, the, the psychiatrist that they used, which was a Dr. Pickett, this was the first time that he had ever been qualified as an expert. He had just gotten his qualifications, I believe, back in October. That being said, Dr. Clark went through an extensive evaluation, and we ruled out different things. So we knew she wasn't a psychopath. There were different tests and different things that we looked at on that. We knew that this wasn't a panic situation. So then it comes into a mental illness. We went back and started looking at what the mental illnesses were, what was going on, things of that nature. Some of the stuff that I just want to address just a

Starting point is 00:38:33 little bit, Dr. Clark testified exactly to what McNaughton was. There was no issue on different standard or anything of that nature. One of the big issues that came out in the case is they're actually their expert. Again, the expert who doesn't have any experience in this case did a diagnosis of Carly Gregg's father without ever seeing him. And that's something that, from my understanding, is the American Medical Association, which this doctor is a part of, is you don't do that. Okay. If you do not do a value, you do not do diagnosis of people, especially psychiatry diagnosis of people that you never examined. There's a rule, it's called the Goldwater rule, that comes into play. That being said, the big issue was whether or not she was bipolar,

Starting point is 00:39:30 and she had not been diagnosed with bipolar at that time. If there's a heredity... So let me understand your, in answer to the question, what is her mental defect, you're saying bipolar, manic depressive, is that what you're saying is her mental defect you're saying bipolar manic depressive is that what you're saying is your ailment yes it goes into that yes it goes into that disassociative state and it all it all sort of fits in together on how that works and that's what uh if if you take if you if dr uh pickett does the correct evaluation does what he's to, he's going to come to the same conclusion that Dr. Clark did. The bid for a new trial made by Carly Gregg's attorneys cited new evidence and a series of errors at her trial. As I said earlier, the new evidence was at Carly's trial. the attorneys conceded that she had killed her mother and shot her stepfather but argued at the

Starting point is 00:40:25 time she was legally insane of the crime and had been suffering from undiagnosed mental illness. A psychiatrist Andrew Clark hired by Carly's defense testified that she had an unspecified schizophrenic order. Carly's biological father Kevin Gregg told the interviewer that Carly's biological father, Kevin Gregg, told the interviewer that Carly had suffered from auditory hallucination as a child and was put into equine therapy to help deal with it. Among other issues were radical sanctions placed on the defense by the judge in response to what were willful violations of discovery, which included two witnesses and limiting the testimony of others. The motion also questioned the makeup of the jury. Under Mississippi law, jurors must be 21 years old, meaning Carly was much younger at 15 than her jury of peers. In the end, the Mississippi judge denied the motion for a new trial,

Starting point is 00:41:22 saying that no new information was revealed in the interview with Carly's biological father. The court ruled, quote, this court specifically finds that no new and material has been discovered which probably would produce a different result at trial and by reasonable diligence this evidence could not have been discovered sooner. The court reviewed these statements and finds these statements would not have probably produced a different result at trial. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Girl Carly Gregg 'Shoots Mom in Face,' Convicted, Asks For New Trial

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