There are moments when you don't know what to say. August 20, 2026, was one of those moments. When I heard the Mississippi Supreme Court’s decision, I cried. I’m not ashamed to say that.
I cried because this case is no longer just something I have followed from a distance. Carly became my friend. Somewhere along this journey, the person behind the headlines became someone I know, someone I care about, and someone I cannot simply walk away from.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Carly Gregg's convictions and sentences. For those of us who have stood beside Carly, supported her family, and followed this case from the beginning, it was incredibly difficult to hear.
But I don't believe this is where Carly's story ends.
I believe a person is more than the worst thing they have ever done. I believe a child is more than the worst moment of their childhood. And I believe accountability and rehabilitation can exist together.
Carly was 14 years old. That fact has never stopped being important to me. 14 is a child. A child whose brain is still developing, whose understanding of consequences is still evolving, and whose future should not automatically be considered written in stone.
None of that erases Ashley's death or the terrible pain suffered by everyone affected by what happened. Ashley's life mattered. Her family matters. The devastation is real. But so is Carly's capacity to change.
Having come to know Carly personally, I cannot look at her only through the lens of one terrible day. I have seen the person behind the headlines. I have seen the young woman who is still growing, still learning and still finding her way through circumstances that no child should ever have had to face.
That is why I believe this story deserves to be about more than a conviction and a sentence. It deserves to be about accountability, rehabilitation, mental health, childhood, and the possibility of becoming a different person with time, treatment and maturity.
What is left legally?
So, where can we go from here?
The Mississippi Supreme Court has affirmed Carly's convictions and sentences. That was incredibly difficult to hear, but it does not mean that every possible legal avenue has come to an end.
Carly's legal team can file a 14-day request for reconsideration with the Mississippi Supreme Court. That matters. The legal process can continue, and her attorneys can further examine the Court's decision and the issues raised throughout the appeal.
Beyond that, there is the possibility of post-conviction relief, commonly known as PCR. PCR is different from a direct appeal. Some issues, particularly claims involving ineffective assistance of counsel, may be more appropriately considered through post-conviction proceedings because they can require evidence or information that is not contained within the existing appellate record. Importantly, the Mississippi Supreme Court itself recognised that some ineffective-assistance claims are better reserved for post-conviction relief because they may rely on matters outside the appellate record. That doesn't mean PCR automatically results in a new trial or a different sentence. It means there is another legal process for Carly's attorneys to evaluate and determine whether any claims are available and appropriate.
And then there is something else that came directly from the Supreme Court's decision that I believe everyone needs to understand.
Carly was sentenced to life imprisonment — not life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The Court specifically clarified that distinction. It does not guarantee parole. But it does mean that a future outside prison has not been permanently ruled out.
So, no, August 20 was not the end.
We don't know exactly where this road will lead. But the legal process continues, and Carly's life continues with it.
She will grow older. She will continue to learn and change. And whatever comes next, I will continue to stand beside my friend.
Carly's story is still being written.
And the final chapter has not yet been written.