Irish Daily Mail

Molly’s uncle: Our family is left in ruins

Pair’s relative claims verdict is an ‘atrocious miscarriag­e of justice’

- By Sarah Slater

AN uncle of Molly Martens has described her conviction and that of her father Tom, for second degree murder, as an ‘atrocious miscarriag­e of justice’.

Michael Earnest, a brother to Molly’s mother Sharon, also said the verdict came as a ‘shock’ to their family, and claims that unheard court evidence will prove she acted in self-defence.

Mr Earnest, who lives in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended every day of the four-week trial, said the family firmly believed the jury would acquit her.

Molly Martens and her father Thomas Martens, a retired FBI agent and qualified barrister, were convicted of second-degree murder last Wednesday in North Carolina over the death of Ms Martens’s husband, father-of-two Jason Corbett.

Jason, 39, originally from Limerick, was found with fatal head injuries at the home he shared with his second wife, in Wallburg, North Carolina, on August 2, 2015.

Mr Earnest said: ‘The [trial] was very difficult.

‘But we know that both Tom and Molly are completely innocent, so we can’t imagine a jury finding two innocent people guilty.’

Mr Earnest, who is a Federal employee and part of the US Afghanista­n Reconstruc­tion programme, vowed that the family will never stop fighting to prove the pair’s innocence and to show they acted entirely in self-defence. He said: ‘We are all thoroughly devastated and shell-shocked.

‘None of us saw this coming [the conviction­s]. It is so horrible.

‘So much evidence from life at that house [Panther Creek where the couple lived] was never heard nor submitted in court.

‘A lot of the evidence heard in court was taken out of context and never explained fully, (such as how the brick used to hit Jason came to be on his wife’s night stand).

‘All of this needs to be known, and it will be.

‘Our family is decimated by what has happened.

‘The sheer vitriol and viciousnes­s directed towards the extended family here is literally spine-chilling.

‘The extended family have not broken the law; we are only trying to support our loved ones.

‘People have even criticised our profession­al lives and the renowned work the FBI do.

‘How can people be like that towards a law enforcemen­t agency. ‘We are all just decimated. ‘Our lives have been put on hold and now we must face back to our normal personal and work lives which is just so difficult to do.

‘How do you pick up the pieces?’

He added: ‘In my opinion and in my personal life, this is the most atrocious miscarriag­e of justice I have ever been a part of.’

The family are determined to fight the father and daughter’s conviction­s and will leave no stone unturned in their legal appeals, he said.

The extended Martens family have kept a stony silence throughout the entire trial which was held in Lexington, Davidson County.

Tom and Molly Martens had pleaded not guilty to seconddegr­ee murder and claimed they had acted in self-defence. A jury of nine women and three men unanimousl­y rejected their claims.

Previously, in a statement issued by Mr Earnest on behalf of the family prior to the trial which has captured media headlines across both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, said: ‘I have known Tom for 45 years and Molly since she was born 33 years ago; there are no finer people you would care to meet.

‘The actions of self-defence that Tom and Molly took the morning of August 2, 2015, were completely necessary and justified.

‘Tom has dedicated his entire adult life to law enforcemen­t and believes firmly in the sanctity of the justice system.’

Company director Mr Corbett was bludgeoned to death with a brick, kept on his wife’s night stand, and an aluminium baseball bat used up to 12 times by Mr Martens who claimed he was using it in self-defence. The bat was brought to the couple’s luxury home by Mr Martens as a present for Mr Corbett’s son.

Mr Corbett’s young son, Jack, now 12, and daughter Sarah, now ten, were in the house at the time of their father’s death.

They now live with their legal guardians, Tracey Lynch, who is Mr Corbett’s sister and her husband David in Limerick.

The unanimous second-degree murder conviction­s against Molly Martens and her father are set to cost the young Tennessee woman more than $1million (€850,000).

The father and daughter are to lodge legal papers within the 90day period legally allowed to challenge their murder conviction­s. They are taking their appeal to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Both Molly Martens and her father are Tom jailed in security prisons outside Raleigh in North Carolina. news@dailymail.ie

‘We will fight this conviction’ ‘We never saw the verdict coming’

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 ??  ?? Murder: Tom and Molly Martens are to appeal their conviction­s
Murder: Tom and Molly Martens are to appeal their conviction­s
 ??  ?? Molly’s uncle: Michael Earnest
Molly’s uncle: Michael Earnest

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