Search icon

News

07th Jun 2024

Molly and Tom Martens free from prison after serving four years for Jason Corbett killing

Stephen Porzio

They served four years and three months for the voluntary manslaughter of Limerick man Jason Corbett.

Molly Martens (40) and Tom Martens (73) have been freed from prison in North Carolina, according to reports.

This is after serving four years and three months for the voluntary manslaughter of Limerick man Jason Corbett (39).

The daughter and father agreed to a plea bargain with prosecutors in the state last year.

As part of this, they accepted a plea of guilty to voluntary manslaughter in return for prosecutors dropping murder charges in the case.

The pair were convicted of murder in 2017 but appealed the decision.

This appeal was later upheld and the murder conviction was quashed before the plea bargain deal was agreed.

Molly Martens was married to Jason Corbett, a father of two, at the time of his killing in North Carolina in 2015 during which he was beaten to death.

Molly’s father Tom is a former FBI agent.

Molly and Tom Martens

According to multiple outlets, Molly was released from custody at the North Carolina Correctional Institution on Thursday morning, while Tom left the Caldwell Correctional Centre a short time later.

Ahead of the pair being freed from prison, Jason Corbett’s family in Limerick issued a statement to several news websites stating that they were “deeply disappointed” by their release.

“The heinous actions of Tom and Molly Martens not only took Jason’s life in a malevolent, cruel and vicious manner but they also set out to tarnish his reputation and use his children in a self-serving attempt to evade accountability,” their statement reads.

“Molly Martens relentlessly put Jack and Sarah [Jason’s children] into the centre of her bid to evade justice with a web of lies while refusing to take the stand to give evidence herself.

“Her cruel disregard and treatment of two children under 10 years of age whose birth mother had died, whose father she had just battered to death and whom she professed to love, was inhumane.

“Despite the gravity of their crime and the immense loss they inflicted, they will be freed today after serving just four years and three months.”

Image via Facebook/VirginMediaNews

Read more:

LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge