Molly Martens and father to be tried jointly over killing

PROSECUTORS in North Carolina have formally applied to jointly try the wife and father-in-law of Jason Corbett in July for his killing.

The father-of-two was found bludgeoned to death in the home he shared with wife Molly Martens and his two children in Winston Salem, North Carolina, on August 2, 2015.

In a motion filed in the US yesterday, Greg Brown, Davidson County Assistant District Attorney, applied to the courts for a July 17 trial of Ms Martens, 33, and Tom Martens, 66.

Both were charged with seconddegree murder and involuntary manslaughter in January 2016.

Mr Brown stated that the charges they face were part of a ‘common scheme or plan’ and, as such, both parties should be tried together.

The motion stated: ‘Each defendant has been charged in separate pleadings. Each defendant is charged with accountability for each offence. The several offences charged were part of a common scheme or plan, were part of the same act or transaction, and are so closely connected in time, place, and occasion that it would be difficult to separate proof of one charge from proof of the other.’

The trial is expected to be held in Lexington Courthouse and will last two to three weeks.

Mr Lee will act as trial judge. The Corbett family declined to comment on the latest development in relation to the case.