Molly Martens and her father file appeal against conviction for murdering Jason Corbett
Molly Martens, convicted of killing her husband, Limerickman Jason Corbett, has argued her conviction should be overturned because prosecutors never presented any evidence contradicting her statement to law enforcement officials that her husband choked her and that she was never the aggressor.
Ms Martens, 34, and her father Thomas Martens, 68, a retired FBI agent, submitted documents to an appeals court in North Carolina last week in the hope of overturning their conviction for second-degree murder.
Details of Mr Martens’ appellate brief were available last week, but not those of Ms Martens. They became available online today.
In her brief she argues that trial judge David Lee should have dismissed the murder charge against her. In her statement, she said Jason choked her after he was awakened in the early hours of August 2, 2015, and that her father hit him with a bat to protect her and him.
Defence attorneys argue that prosecutors and Lee both conceded that Molly Corbett was not the aggressor.
Defence attorneys also argued that statements from Jack and Sarah Corbett, Jason’s children from his first marriage, should have been allowed in. These were statements the children made to social workers where the children said their father physically and emotionally abused Ms Martens.
They also note that Jason Corbett told his doctor two weeks before he died that he was getting angry for no reason.
They also argue that the children never recanted their statements. Jack said he recanted his statements through an interview conducted from Ireland using Skype.
Molly Martens' attorneys said that statement is not reliable because his aunt, Tracey Lynch, and her husband, David Lynch, unduly influenced him. Also, they said, the diary entries Jack and Sarah wrote aren’t recantations.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals will not make a ruling for about six months to a year.
The father and daughter were jailed just over a year ago and sentenced to 20-25 years for the murder of Mr Corbett, 39. He had been smashed in the head with a brick and a metal baseball bat.
