We hope, trust and pray that we receive justice for our Jason
‘The truth will not change’
THE family of Jason Corbett have said they ‘hope, trust and pray’ that ‘justice is upheld’ following the decision by a US court of appeal that his killers will face a retrial.
Molly Martens and her father Thomas, a retired FBI agent, last week won their appeal against their convictions for the murder of the 39-year-old Limerick man.
Mr Corbett, a father-of-two, was found dead in August 2015 at the North Carolina home he shared with his wife, Molly Martens.
The North Carolina Court of Appeal said earlier this month that the Martenses did not get a fair trial, and that critical evidence had been excluded in the case.
In a statement, Jason’s sister, Tracey Corbett Lynch, and her husband David Lynch, said they were ‘overwhelmed by the messages of support’ they had received, and admitted they did not expect the decision.
They said: ‘We fully respect the court of appeals process and the law in North Carolina, though we are obviously disappointed.
‘We are now confident the North Carolina Supreme Court will uphold the convictions for second-degree murder on appeal. We will continue to support the Davidson County and North Carolina prosecutors who helped us get justice for Jason in 2017.’
It is up to the Supreme Court to decide if Molly, 36, and Thomas Martens, 70, should get a retrial.
The victim’s family said it was a comfort to know ‘that so many people support and back us during this horrible time’.
‘Our family also knows that the truth will not change. We all know what happened,’ they added.
‘Jason was beaten around his head with a brick and baseball bat. Molly and Thomas Martens continued to beat Jason after he died. His two children were left orphaned as a result. Jason’s children, Jack and Sarah, had to be sheltered by police from seeing what the Martens[es] inflicted on their father.
‘The autopsy has not changed nor have the horrific details of Jason’s death. The Martens[es]’ total lack of injuries at the scene have not changed. The fact that Jason was drugged has not changed.’
The statement pointed out that neither Molly Martens nor her father gave any evidence of abusive behaviour by Jason before his death, and that while Molly Martens did not offer evidence in her defence during the trial, she ‘was perfectly willing to use US television to cast malicious slurs which she did not relate or substantiate from the witness box’.
They concluded: ‘The actions of Tom and Molly Martens orphaned Jason’s children by his beloved late first wife, Margaret “Mags” Fitzpatrick. All of these facts remain the same. Jason is dead.
‘We hope, trust and pray that the North Carolina Supreme Court will now see that justice is upheld.’
It was revealed in The Irish Mail on Sunday that Mr Corbett’s two children may be required to travel back to the US from their home in Ireland if a retrial is ordered in the case against Molly Martens and her father.
Davidson County district attorney Garry Frank said the form of the children’s testimony in a retrial is ‘all up in the air, really’.
He said: ‘I have an idea of what I would like to see happen, but I really don’t want to speculate about it right now. Options are to try to set up some kind of video, get them over here or just let the statements sit.’
The possibility of prosecutors coming here to speak to the children is ‘fairly remote’, he said.
Molly Martens’s family welcomed the possibility of a retrial. From the outset, she and her father maintained their innocence and claimed they were acting in self-defence.
lisa.o’donnell@dailymail.ie