Six Molly jurors had ‘experiences of domestic abuse’
Eight of 12 dismissed in murder trial in US
EIGHT potential jurors have been dismissed in the murder trial of Molly and Tom Martens.
Six of the eight had told the court they had knowledge of or experienced domestic abuse.
The prosecution dismissed all eight after a day and a half of questioning.
Ms Martens, 33, and her former FBI agent father are accused of the second-degree murder of Jason Corbett in Winston Salem, North Carolina, on August 2, 2015. Both deny the charges.
The Limerick father of two was found bludgeoned to death in the home he shared with wife Ms Martens and his two children.
An investigation report carried out following his death stated that Mr Martens made a 911 call from the Corbett family home at 3.05am on the day in question and told the operator that there had been an argument between Jason and Molly.
‘He was choking my daughter, he said he was going to kill her,’ said Mr Martens, 67, in the recorded call.
As a result of the jurors’ history with domestic violence and other reasons, four jurors remain from the initial 12 drawn on Monday. A further eight new names were drawn yesterday afternoon.
On day two of jury selection in Lexington, North Carolina, jury selection continued into late afternoon.
Both defendants were present in court yesterday in Davidson County, North Carolina, as were Jason Corbett’s sister Tracey Lynch and her husband David.
Having drawn the names of 12 potential jurors from a pool of 50, the prosecution has begun questioning each juror individually.
All 12 filled out a 16-page questionnaire which Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin quizzed them on at length. During the course of questioning the initial eight women and four men, it emerged that more than half had varying degrees of experience of domestic violence.
One female juror had suffered a broken nose at the hands of her ex-partner.
‘I also had two miscarriages,’ she told the court.
‘And he bit me on the back…. I kept getting drawn back. After I had my daughter and he punched me in the face I said no more… I couldn’t handle it any more. He went to jail.’
The juror added she had endured a long custody battle regarding her children.
Another juror said her par- ents had gone through a divorce and she had witnessed her father being physically and verbally abusive towards her mother.
Another female juror told the court that her ex-partner had thrown a wrench at her because he was angry.
The couple were later divorced and she got sole custody of the children.
On Monday, four other jurors outlined their experiences of domestic violence.
Prosecutor Alan Martin had warned the potential jurors that they would see pictures of injuries and blood. Two jurors said they may have issues with this.
Separately, Judge David Lee questioned several jurors who had noted in their questionnaire they had viewed media reports on the case.
‘Couldn’t handle it anymore’