THE BROTHER OF Limerick man, Jason Corbett, who was murdered by his wife and father in law in the United States six years ago has said he has written to the US President Joe Biden expressing his “dismay” at a plea bargain being offered.
District Attorney in Davidson County North Carolina offered the plea bargain, which could see them possibly released within months.
Molly Martens (37) and her father Tom Martens (71), a former FBI officer, were convicted by a jury in North Carolina in 2017 of second degree murder, and sentenced to between 20-25 years in high security prisons.
During their trial, the father and daughter claimed they acted in self defence and that Corbett had attacked Martens.
However, it was heard there were no visible marks on their bodies when police and paramedics responded to the killing scene and that police had to warn Martens several times to refrain from vigorously rubbing her neck.
The trial heard the pair beat Corbett to death with a metal baseball bat and a concrete paving brick in the bedroom of the home he shared with his wife and their two children.
Last Thursday, the DA for Davidson County, Garry Frank, informed the Corbett family that he had offered the Martens a plea bargain to a lesser charge of manslaughter. Three weeks ago the Martens convictions were quashed and a retrial was ordered.
The North Carolina Supreme Court had upheld a decision by an appeals court to retry the Martens after ruling that evidence which had not been allowed in the original trial meant the Martens did not receive a fair hearing.
The Martens have a week to decide if they will take the DA’s offer. If they do accept the plea bargain deal, they are likely to be freed within months, having already served almost four years in jail, however, if they do not accept the plea bargain they will face a retrial.
In a letter to President Biden, which was also sent to DA Frank and the Limerick Post newspaper, Jason Corbett’s brother, John P Corbett, stated:
I have stayed away from all the distasteful media over the past few years re the trial and brutal cold blooded murder of my dear brother, who only wanted a happy new peaceful life in North Carolina with his children when he moved there from Ireland, yet his life was taken by two cold narcissistic individuals.
John Corbett, who works for the NHS in East Anglia, in England, continued:
“I cannot hide my true sadness and hurt at hearing the news about Tom and Molly Martens being appeased and facilitated by the NC Justice system.”
He said he is dismayed the two convicted murderers are being gifted leniency by the North Carolina Justice system.
“We as a family, like any family in the world who have lost a family member to a brutal cowardly murder, would want normal justice. Sadly the justice system seems, in this case, to be working for the murderers, and not for the life they have coldly taken for their own narcissistic agenda.
“It is a truly sad day as all eyes are on the inequality and injustice being played out at the moment in North Carolina,” he said in the letter.
John Corbett thanked the US authorities “for at least keeping these cold arrogant murderers in prison for four years”, but he added, “it is truly a sad day for our family who continue to feel the hurt that the Martens have inflicted on us all, and Jason’s two beloved children.”
Jason Corbett’s sister Tracey Corbett-Lynch who, along with her husband David Lynch, are legal guardians for her deceased’s brothers children Jack (16) and Sarah (14), said they were “devastated” at the DA’s decision.
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