Connect with us

Mississippi

‘Diabolical’ act committed by Mississippi teen Carly Gregg disqualifies her from insanity defense in mother’s murder trial: psychiatrist

Published

on

‘Diabolical’ act committed by Mississippi teen Carly Gregg disqualifies her from insanity defense in mother’s murder trial: psychiatrist


Mississippi teen Carly Gregg was severely depressed and possibly hearing voices when she allegedly gunned down her own mother, psychiatrists testified at her trial Thursday — but one argued she committed a “diabolical” act that keeps her from meeting the requirements of an insanity defense.

“I used the word diabolical. And I stand by that word,” psychiatrist Jason Pickett said of the 15-year-old, who was caught on camera texting her stepfather “When will you be home honey?” from her mother Ashley Smylie’s phone moments after allegedly shooting the 40-year-old in the face on March 19.

The text was an apparent trick to lure her stepfather home — when he returned a short time later, Gregg allegedly fired a pistol at him and grazed him in the shoulder.

Carly Gregg was caught apparently texting her stepfather to lure him home after allegedly shooting her mother. Law&Crime

“When she did that, to me, that was very specific and diabolical. And that to me is not consistent with a dissociative spell, it is not consistent with psychosis, that is not consistent with mania,” said Pickett, who interviewed Gregg for over four hours after her arrest, according to WAPT.

Advertisement

“In my opinion, Carly does not meet Mississippi’s standard for insanity at the time of the offense and she knew the nature and quality of her actions on that day.”

In Mississippi, defendants can be acquitted on the grounds of insanity if it’s demonstrated they were unable to understand the severity or impact of their actions, according to Justia Law — which is what Gregg’s defense is trying to establish.

Other psychiatrists at the trial painted a picture of a girl who was suffering severe mental illness in the lead-up to the alleged murder — including one who insisted Gregg was hearing voices.

Dr. Jason Pickett testified that Gregg’s text to her stepfather demonstrated that she knew what she was doing during the murder. Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“She said she had been hearing one voice, a male voice, since she was young — maybe around five or six years old,” said Dr. Amanda Gugliano, who also interviewed Gregg after her arrest.

“She said she heard the voice every day, but it was always in the background and she was able to tune it out,” Gugliano said, explaining the voice Gregg told her about was a snide critic who would make comments about people.

Advertisement

On Wednesday, Dr. Andrew Clark testified that the voices in Gregg’s head had been intensifying leading up to the shooting, and that she experienced a mental break that day and has no recollection of the incident.

But other medical professionals who worked with Gregg disputed the claim about the alleged voices.

Gregg was 14 at the time of the alleged murder, and going through a period of severe mental unrest, psychologists testified. Lauren Witte/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Olivia Leber — a nurse who worked with Gregg in January before the killing — said she never complained about voices, delusions, or hallucinations while she was being diagnosed with major depressive disorder.

And Rebecca Kirk — a counselor who also met with Gregg in January after her parents said she was having severe intrusive thoughts — testified that the girl insisted she was not hearing voices.

Gregg and Kirk met nine different times and even had conversations about “Crime and Punishment,” the Russian novel about a man who murders a woman and then becomes plagued by anguish and guilt. But during none of those sessions did Gregg exhibit anything that might indicate she was about to commit murder, Kirk said.

Advertisement

Home surveillance footage from the family’s home in Brandon showed Smylie and her daughter coming home after apparently taking their dogs for a walk. Gregg was seen shuffling about the house, and eventually followed her mother out of the frame before three gunshots and screams rang out.

Ashley Smylie, Gregg’s mother, was shot in the face. Northwest Rankin High School

The teen then returned to the view of the camera with something behind her back, and appeared to be deliberately facing the camera. Within moments she picked up her mother’s phone and sent off a text message.

Clark suggested the news of her mother’s recent discovery of the teen’s marijuana habit, coupled with the emotional turmoil she was going through, might have sparked a psychotic episode.

“For Carly, in particular, she so cared about her mother’s approval, so for her, this was a crisis,” Clark said.

The teen faces charges of murder, attempted murder and tampering with evidence — along with 30 years to life in prison if convicted.

Advertisement



Source link

Mississippi

Your Mississippi forecast for Friday, May 15 – SuperTalk Mississippi

Published

on

Your Mississippi forecast for Friday, May 15 – SuperTalk Mississippi


It will be a beautiful start to the weekend with sunny skies and highs in the 80s. Here’s your statewide forecast from the National Weather Service.

Northern Mississippi

It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy and warmer with lows in the mid to upper 60s.

Central Mississippi

Friday will be sunny with highs in the mid to upper 80s. Friday night will be mostly cloudy, with lows in the mid-60s.

Southern Mississippi

It will be a sunny Friday with highs in the mid-80s. Friday night will be partly cloudy with lows in the lower 60s.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Mississippi

Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi

Published

on

Golden Spikes watchlist features players from Mississippi State, Ole Miss – SuperTalk Mississippi


Two pitchers representing Mississippi universities are up for the 2026 Golden Spikes Award.

USA Baseball announced Thursday the 25 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the most prolific college player in the nation. Both Mississippi State’s Tomas Valincius and Ole Miss’ Cade Townsend cracked the list. It’s the latest award each was announced to be up for after Valincius and Townsend became Ferris Trophy finalists earlier this week.

Valincius, a left-hander who followed first-year Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor to Starkville from Virginia has been a star for Mississippi State this season. In 13 starts, the sophomore is 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 105 strikeouts, along with just 16 walks across 75 innings of work.

He has effectively limited opposing hitters to a .209 batting average on the year and ranks second in the SEC in strikeouts and wins, and is third in innings pitched and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.56) and WHIP (0.99).

Advertisement

Valincius is the 10th Bulldog to earn a semifinalist distinction from the Golden Spikes Award and the first since Dakota Jordan in 2024. Will Clark is the program’s only Golden Spikes Award winner in 1985 while Rafael Palmeiro and Brent Rooker finished as finalists for the honor in 1984 and 2017, respectively.

For Ole Miss, Townsend is the first Rebel since Doug Nikhazy in 2021 and just the seventh ever to be named a semifinalist for the award. He is the first Ole Miss sophomore to ever be named a semifinalist as all six before him were juniors.

The right-hander boasts a 3.25 ERA and has struck out 77 batters while only allowing 20 earned runs in 55.1 innings. Townsend ranks fifth in the SEC in WHIP (1.01), strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.50), and strikeouts per nine innings (12.52). He leads the Rebels in all three categories as well as batters struck out looking (24) and wins and is second in opponent batting average (.202) and total strikeouts (77).

If Townsend is announced as a finalist, he will join Stephen Head and Drew Pomeranz in earning the honor. No Ole Miss player has ever won the Golden Spikes Award.

The full list of semifinalists can be found here. Finalists will be named on June 10, and this year’s Golden Spikes Award winner will be announced on the MLB Network on June 29. Fans can weigh in on which player is their favorite by clicking here.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Mississippi

Mississippi State, Ole Miss baseball hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament bracket

Published

on

Mississippi State, Ole Miss baseball hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament bracket


One series remains in the regular season and Ole Miss and Mississippi State baseball are in similar situations.

Both are locks for the NCAA Tournament but are on the bubble for hosting a regional.

The Tennessean’s latest bracket projections have both the Rebels and Bulldogs as two of the 16 national seeds, but that is not solidified yet.

Advertisement

Finding wins in the final series, and possibly the SEC Tournament too, are necessary. Both teams close the regular season on the road against ranked teams that are also projected to host regionals.

The No. 12 Bulldogs (38-14, 15-12 SEC) play at No. 10 Texas A&M (37-12, 16-10). The No. 19 Rebels (35-18, 14-13) play at No. 16 Alabama (35-17, 16-11). Both series begin May 14 (6 p.m., SEC Network+).

Here’s a look at the different scenarios for Ole Miss and Mississippi State to host NCAA Tournament regionals.

Mississippi State, Ole Miss hosting scenarios for NCAA Tournament

Ole Miss and Mississippi State getting swept could knock them completely out of the hosting conversation, barring a deep run in the SEC Tournament. However, SEC Tournament wins are not always viewed the same as SEC regular-season wins by the selection committee.

Advertisement

Mississippi State is in a slightly better spot than Ole Miss. The Bulldogs’ RPI is at No. 12, one spot ahead of Ole Miss. They are tied for sixth in the SEC standings, while Ole Miss is ninth.

The Bulldogs also went 4-0 against Ole Miss, which could give them the edge if the final hosting seed came down to those two teams.

The Tennessean projects MSU as the No. 12 national seed and the Rebels as the No. 13 seed. D1Baseball and Baseball America also project MSU to host, however they both have Ole Miss as a No. 2 seed.

Advertisement

That could mean Ole Miss needs two wins against Alabama, while MSU may be fine with just one win at Texas A&M. If Ole Miss wins one game at Alabama, it probably would need multiple wins in the SEC Tournament.

Mississippi State winning two games at Texas A&M could keep it in contention for a top eight seed. Ole Miss and Mississippi State sweeping their series obviously would, too.

Getting a top eight seed is advantageous because that means you are guaranteed to host a super regional.

Who Ole Miss, Mississippi State fans should root against

It will help Ole Miss and Mississippi State if teams near them in the projections lose, too. That would be teams like Oregon, West Virginia, Wake Forest, Nebraska, Oregon State and Kansas.

Oregon hosts Southern Cal, Nebraska plays at Minnesota, Kansas plays at BYU, Wake Forest plays at Duke, Oregon State hosts Air Force and West Virgina hosts TCU.

Advertisement

How NCAA Tournament history could be made in Mississippi

If everything falls the right way, there’s a chance Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Southern Miss all host NCAA Tournament regionals. That’s never happened.

The No. 9 Golden Eagles (37-14, 19-8 Sun Belt) are projected by The Tennessean as the No. 10 national seed, just ahead of MSU and Ole Miss.

Southern Miss plays a home series against Georgia Southern (15-37, 7-20) at Pete Taylor Park beginning May 14 (7 p.m., ESPN+).

Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for The Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending