Murderer Molly avoids four more years in jail for breaking rules
KILLER Molly Martens (35) has avoided having four extra years added to her murder sentence in the United States.
The former nanny, who was convicted last August by a North Carolina jury of the brutal murder of her Irish husband, Jason Corbett (39), had been cited for breaching strict rules in the high security jail where she is serving her sentence.
Martens and her father, Thomas (67), a retired FBI agent, were both convicted last August by a Davidson County Superior Court jury of the second-degree murder of Mr Corbett, a Limerick-born businessman.
Their challenges to their convictions are expected to come before the North Carolina Court of Appeals this autumn.
Both received sentences of 20-25 years.
Attacked
Mr Corbett was battered to death with a brick and a metal baseball bat in the master bedroom of the gated community home he shared with Martens, his second wife.
Prosecutors claimed he was most likely asleep in bed when he was attacked – and the father of two was then callously left to die on the bedroom floor before the father and daughter called for an ambulance.
Traces of a sedative prescribed to his wife were found in his system.
Mr Corbett had repeatedly declined to sign adoption papers involving his children in favour of Martens.
She had seen a divorce lawyer just months after the couple wed in 2011.
Mr Corbett’s sister Tracey, who spearheaded a high-profile ‘Justice for Jason’ campaign in Limerick, will next month publish a book on “the untold story of the murder” entitled
‘My Brother Jason’.
Davidson County Superior Court judge David Lee last December rejected submissions for the two convictions to be quashed. Both the father and daughter had sought the retrial on the basis of what they claimed was juror misconduct.
Although the twin challenges are expected in the autumn, legal experts warned it could be 2019 before a ruling is delivered.
Last November, Martens was cited for a breach of strict prison rules.
The North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) revealed she was cited on November 21 for “unauthorised leave” at Southern Correctional Institution.
Martens – whose inmate number is 1551729 – is understood to have either left a supervised area without the permission of prison guards or failed to report to a supervised area as required.
The NCDPS confirmed that while her father has a scheduled release date of August 3, 2037 – a 20-year prison sentence – Martens had her scheduled release date provisionally extended to July 28, 2041, a 24-year prison term.
However, after a special custody review by prison officials, her release date has now been restored to August 3, 2037.
It is understood Martens was warned that any further rule breaches could result in her release date being permanently extended.
The former nanny, a native of Knoxville, Tennessee, was moved from the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women outside Raleigh to the Southern Correctional Institution, which is just south of Lexington in the US state, on August 30.
Mr Corbett was battered to death in the bedroom with a brick and a metal baseball bat