Epilogue: Life after death

LIFE AFTER DEATH

In the days following the dramatic events in Lexington, it quickly became clear that the matter was far from concluded for the Martens and Earnest families.

Mona Earnest set up a special GoGetFunding page on the internet to raise finances to support the legal costs associated with the appeal flagged by both Thomas Martens and Molly Martens-Corbett. The aim stated on the web page was to raise $300,000. However, it was the introduction to the appeal which sparked a storm of controversy as it featured allegations levelled against Jason Corbett.

A number of people expressed outrage at the comments and demanded that they be withdrawn. One individual, posting on social media about the GoGetFunding comments, said they were “disgusting and vile”.

The comments were later edited out of the appeal description though the fundraising effort continued.

One month after the appeal was launched, it had raised around $20,000 of its target total. Mrs Earnest posted repeat social media appeals in respect of the father and daughter, at one point even including a message to former US President Barack Obama.

Three weeks after the sentencing, Connor Martens posted an update on the GoGetFunding page to highlight what he described as the terrible treatment his sister was enduring while in prison in North Carolina.

The update was focused on a photo taken of him with Molly Martens-Corbett at a family wedding just weeks before the trial commenced.

“This picture was taken a month before the trial at a wedding I took Molly MartensCorbett to in Charleston,” Connor wrote. “As you can imagine it was difficult to escape the anxiety of 12 strangers determining your life, but we never could have imagined what has happened.

“Upon entering prison on August 9, she was not given shower shoes or a toothbrush for the first nine days. This prevented her from showering and obviously brushing her teeth. There is no air conditioning.

“Over 15 people have passed out in her short time there. There are no activities. On rare occasions, she gets to go outside only to be reprimanded for walking too fast in her attempt to get exercise.

“Her hair has been dyed and cut against her will, stripping her of any external dignity she may have had left.

“With all of that said, this post isn’t about the conditions of the North Carolina Correctional Facility. It isn’t just about domestic abuse. It isn’t about the ineptitude of a rural county investigation or the prosecution preventing evidence from being presented. It isn’t even about whether they’re guilty or innocent. At this point, it is about every

American and their right to a fair trial. The jury has gone before a national audience and made a mockery of our judicial system.”

He also levelled serious concerns about the conviction and the post-trial comments by jurors.

Both the Martens and Earnest families vowed to fight to have the convictions overturned as Connor Martens urged every US citizen to read his post. “This isn’t just about my family,” he said. However, within 24 hours, North Carolina prison officials had disputed the claims and denied that Molly Martens-Corbett was in any way being mistreated while in custody.

Fresh photos of the father and daughter released by the prisons showed that Thomas Martens was growing a grey beard while his daughter’s hair was still blonde albeit slightly darker in shade than during the trial.

Having confirmed they were lodging a formal appeal with the North Carolina Court of Appeal, it emerged that it would take 90 days for all the Davidson County Superior Court papers to be ready for the higher court.

However, the legal teams for Thomas Martens and Molly Martens-Corbett added a second element to their challenge – a demand for the conviction to be quashed after alleging juror misconduct in papers submitted to Davidson County Superior Court.

In a series of legal submissions, the legal teams alleged juror misconduct over the revelations contained in their post trial interviews, in particular the interviews given to ABC’s 20:20 programme by three jurors including jury foreman, Tom Aamland.

Furthermore, it was alleged that there was contact between two jurors as the deliberations were ongoing – the duo being seen chatting in a vehicle parked not far from Davidson County courts complex.

An affidavit was then submitted from an alternate jury member who claimed he overheard other jurors talking about the case despite Judge Lee warning them that they should not. Brian Graham made the sworn statement which was submitted by the defence teams in support of their demand for the verdict to be set aside.

Mr Graham said he overheard jurors talk about the case during breaks and asking questions about the evidence.

In his affidavit, Graham said he tried to keep to himself and didn’t eat with other jurors so he wouldn’t be involved in any conversation about the case.

“However, at certain breaks during the trial, I overheard other jurors in the jury room and outside the courthouse commenting on the evidence presented or, in some cases, asking questions about the evidence,” Mr Graham said. “Usually when this occurred, another member of the jury would remind the group that we were not supposed to talk about the evidence,” he said.

“But on at least one occasion, a conversation about the evidence took place between the jurors for two to three minutes, despite the warning by the court and some other jurors not to discuss.

“Following the first closing argument for the State, another juror, Mr [Tom] Aamland, expressed his opinion to me about the merits of the State’s argument,” he added. “I disagreed with his expression of opinion and ended the conversation.”

Mr Graham said he didn’t initially think it was his role to report the comments to the court at the time, but had since decided to share what he knew.

September 8 was set as the closing date for submissions in respect of the challenge with Judge Lee now considering them and the responses from Davidson County District Attorney’s Office which had vigorously contested the claims.

Ina Stanton, in a response to the affidavits, claimed there was no indication of juror misconduct as defined by regulations and the defence claims were focused on the thinking process of the jury members. This, she argued, was entirely outside the specified determination of jury misconduct. For the Corbett and Lynch families, the appeals did not come as a surprise. However, the scale of the social media campaign – and the deeply upsetting allegations contained within it – meant that family members were advised to studiously avoid the internet and social media. The family travelled back to Ireland within days of the August 9 verdict and sentencing. It had been a gruelling five-week ordeal for them – not to mention proving exceptionally expensive given travel and accommodation costs.

On their arrival back in Limerick, the family suddenly found themselves flooded by requests for media interviews and to participate in various shows on RTE and TV3.

Such was the level of media interest, particularly given the dramatic claims from the Martens and Earnest family in the US, Tracey and David Lynch found themselves having to issue a fresh statement and appeal for privacy.

“It does not matter what the Martens said or say, at this point. We all know what happened. That Jason was beaten around his head when in bed. That they continued to beat him after he died,” their statement said. “Jason’s children, Jack and Sarah, had to be sheltered by police from seeing what the Martens had done to their father. It does not matter what the Martens say now. They are convicted killers and liars.

“When we heard the verdicts, our first thoughts went to Jack and Sarah. Their daddy was now vindicated. We rang them to tell them the news.

“Our first priority after the trial and sentencing was to get home to them as quickly as possible. We were never as anxious to get on a flight as we were on Thursday last. We wanted to talk to Jack and Sarah and our own children and just hug them and hold them tight.

“We are grateful to the people of Limerick for the fundraising they did to help us get Jack and Sarah home and to help us clear Jason’s reputation.

“We thank them for the thousands of acts of kindness to us, to our parents and other family members. We are grateful for the Masses, the cards, the prayers and everything else they did for us. It really means so much that your own people are backing you during a horrible time.”

The couple stressed they would not be doing further media interviews or comments so as to focus on restoring normality to their lives for the sake of Jack and Sarah.

Shortly before their statement, Jason’s older brother, John, who is based in the United Kingdom, made it clear he felt the father and daughter should consider themselves lucky only to have been convicted of second degree murder.

In an interview with The Limerick Leader, Mr Corbett also revealed his family were hesitant about Jason’s marriage to the Tennessee woman.

“I personally feel they should have been charged with capital one [first-degree murder] and should have got the death penalty. They continue to show no remorse. I wish them eternal pain and suffering in prison,” he said.

“But we, as a very close family, can now find some form of closure and comfort knowing Molly Martens and Thomas Martens are in prison where they belong.

“We will finally mourn Jason and let him rest in peace with his beloved [first] wife Mags. We will continue to grow stronger in our integrity and love for each other, but we will never forget the Martens as a stain on society.” He hit out at the appeal fund in support of the father and daughter. “Anyone who donates to it are condoning cold, calculating murder and do not respect the law of the land in the US. “From day one they [the father and daughter] have showed no remorse.” Mr Corbett said his family, in particular his sister, Tracey, and her husband, David, had shown “dignity and composure in the face of pure evil”.

He said his younger brother, who was born as a twin in February 1976 alongside another boy, Wayne, was “a six-foot-two-inch teddy bear who wouldn’t hurt a fly”.

Mr Corbett also confirmed that members of his family had “advised him [Jason] not to go to America and marry her”.

He said the Tennessee woman always seemed “a bit distant” to him and other members of the family.

Wayne Corbett, in an RTE radio interview, warned: “They didn’t just kill him – they slaughtered him. You’d never expect that to happen to anyone let alone my brother. A wife and father-in-law to do that to one of theirs under any circumstances,” he said.

“The photographic evidence, the photos of the bathroom, the bedroom, Jason himself, they were stuff that you would never get out of your mind. It still affects me, it’s hard to break down, there was about 700 pictures taken of Jason and the crime scene.

“It is very difficult to comprehend what they did to him. I saw the brick on a number of occasions in the courtroom, it’s still red two years after the murder.

“Thomas Martens always came across to me as an arrogant man, a very arrogant man, that he was above everybody. I got on with him when I went over to the States for the sake of the kids, as I did with Molly.

“I tried to get on with her for the sake of the kids when she lived here and in the States. I tried my best to get on with her. No, there was not a natural liking but we got on with her for the sake of Jason. She seemed a bit false to me, to be honest, a bit false,” Wayne said.

In early September, Molly Martens-Corbett was transferred out of the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women in Raleigh to another prison facility.

This was for routine processing reasons after Judge Lee had recommended that the young woman be provided with whatever psychiatric assessment or treatment she required. She is now housed at the Southern Correctional Institution in Troy, North Carolina, on the outskirts of the Uwharrie National Forest.

Ironically, the women’s prison is located less than an hour from the Lexington packaging facility where her husband was plant manager. A decision on the defence demands for a full retrial is expected before Christmas. The legal challenge before the North Carolina Court of Appeal is not expected to get under way until early 2018.

A further indication that, from the Martens’ point of view, nothing was going to legally conclude anytime soon came on September 20 when details emerged of the defence cases lodged by the father and daughter over the wrongful death civil case signalled at the outset of the criminal trial.

Court filings in Davidson County indicated that they would maintain Mr Corbett was effectively responsible for his own death on August 2, 2015.

The court filings, quoted in The Winston Salem Journal, confirmed that the father and daughter were alleging the Limerick-born father-of-two was, in effect, to blame for his own death.

Both have said that Mr Corbett was struck with a baseball bat only because he had threatened to kill them.

“Jason Corbett’s death was the sole proximate result of his own deliberate attempt to kill Molly Corbett and kill or seriously injure Mr Martens,” a court filing claimed.

The filing was made by solicitors Kent Hamrick and Ann Rowe who are defending Mr Martens.

Defence papers have also been filed by Dudley Witt, a solicitor who is defending Ms Martens-Corbett in the action. A co-defendant in the action is Sharon Martens, Mr Martens’ wife and Ms Martens-Corbett’s mother.

The wrongful death civil action was lodged by David Lynch, the appointed guardian to Mr Corbett’s two children, Jack and Sarah, and who was also executor to Mr Corbett’s estate.

“In order to save his daughter from imminent bodily injury or death, Mr Martens struck Jason Corbett with the baseball bat,” one court filing added.

“Jason Corbett then wrestled the bat away from Mr Martens and came after him with the bat without releasing Molly Corbett.”

Both the father and daughter have requested that the civil proceedings now be delayed given that they are both challenging their criminal convictions.

As well as proceedings before the North Carolina Court of Appeal, they have also lodged submissions to Davidson County Superior Court asking for the second degree murder conviction to be quashed and a retrial order over alleged juror misconduct.

They also requested that, when the civil proceedings do eventually go to hearing, that they be moved to another venue other than Davidson County.

Central to the wrongful death lawsuit is whether Mr Corbett’s estate, including his USbased assets such as his home, furniture, savings and life insurance benefits, goes entirely to his two children.