Killer Molly’s fundraiser pulls in just 7% of target
A FUNDRAISING appeal to try to get murderers Molly Martens and her father Tom out of prison has only managed to bring in €7% of its $300,000 target.
The GoGetFunding appeal, titled ‘Right the Wrong, Help Molly & Tom’, has received no pledges in the last two months. Recent donations have included a Christmas Day pledge of $100 from Molly’s brother Connor, and another $100 from a former FBI colleague of Tom’s, John Clynick.
Molly and her father were found guilty of the second-degree murder of Limerick native Jason Corbett, 39. Molly’s husband, at their North Carolina home on August 2, 2015, while Jason’s son Jack, now 13, and daughter Sarah, now 11, slept.
The children have since moved back to Limerick to live with their legal guardians, Jason’s sister Tracey Lynch and her husband David.
The trial last August heard how company manager Jason was bludgeoned to death with a paving stone, and that Tom struck him up to 12 times with an aluminium baseball bat he brought to the couple’s home as a gift for Jack. The two killers were both jailed for up to 25 years.
The online campaign was set up by Mona Earnest – the wife of Mike Earnest, an uncle of Molly’s – but only $22,522 (€18,227) of the hopedfor $300,000 (€240,000) has been promised so far.
Ms Earnest pleaded for help from several well-known personalities, including former US president Barack Obama, but today only 144 people have donated.
A spokesperson for GoGetFunding previously confirmed that some parts of the campaign description had to be removed for legal reasons, because they included references to domestic abuse.
Former au pair Molly and her father learned just before Christmas that their appeals against the murder convictions had been rejected by Davidson County Superior Court.
They had looked for a retrial on grounds of juror misconduct during their case. They now have only one legal move left to try in their efforts to overturn their convictions – and that is to claim flaws in how their trial was conducted.