Molly walked away from killing scene ‘without a scratch ’
Trial told that Jason’s blood contained a powerful sedative... which had been prescribed to her
MOLLY Martens used a brick paving stone to hit her husband over the head on the night he died, jurors have heard during opening statements in her trial.
Ms Martens, 34, and her father Tom Martens, 66, are charged with the second-degree murder of Jason Corbett, 39.
Both deny the charges and allege they were acting in self-defence.
During opening speeches in Davidson County Superior Court yesterday, prosecutors said that both defendants had killed Mr Corbett on the night in question and had walked away from a bloody scene ‘without almost a mark on them’.
Addressing jurors on behalf of the state, Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin said that in the early hours of August 2, 2015, officer CS Dagenhardt responded to a 911 call for assistance at 160 Panther Creek Court, Wallburg, North Carolina.
As he was walking towards the residence, he met a paramedic who looked at him and said: ‘It’s bad.’
‘When Corporal Dagenhardt walked into the master suite, it was bad,’ said Mr Martin.
Mr Martin told jurors that he saw the ‘naked, dead body of Jason Corbett and blood just about everywhere’.
He said that there was a ‘bloody baseball bat and a brick paver saturated in blood’.
‘The state’s evidence is that this was the scene of a bloody killing,’ he said.
He said that there were three people in the room at the time of the killing: Jason Corbett, Molly Martens and Tom Martens.
‘Two of those people walked away without almost a mark on them,’ he added.
Jason Corbett, on the other hand, left the room on a ‘board with a skull that was so badly crushed’ that emergency responders had difficulty dripping his head when they tried to intubate him.
‘The back of his head was just so squishy that they knew there was nothing more that could be done,’ he said.
During the autopsy, pieces of his skull fell out on the table.
He told jurors that they would see a picture of his skull that looked like a hard-boiled egg which had been dropped on a table.
‘You will hear that Molly Martens Corbett tried to hit him in the head with the paver,’ he said.
‘The state will show that she was successful as bits of Mr Corbett’s hair is on the saturated brick.’
In briefly describing the background to Molly and Jason’s relationship, Mr Corbett was described as an Irish businessman who had employed Molly as a nanny after the death of his first wife.
A relationship developed and they were married in 2011.
Father-of-two Jason got a job transfer from Multi-Packaging Solutions in his native Limerick to a plant in North Carolina.
The prosecutor said that Ms Martens became a stepmother to Mr Corbett’s two children.
‘Despite her desire there were never any adoption proceedings,’ said Mr Martin. ‘She was nothing more than a stepmother.’
He added that the marriage ‘wasn’t all sunshine and roses’ and that they had their problems. Ms Martens had visited an attorney.
There would also be evidence, he said, that the company Mr Corbett had been working for was bought out months before his death.
There were some questions about his future with the company and he had been ‘contemplating’ moving home to Ireland with his two children.
Mr Martin said the couple’s neighbours would give testimony.
One neighbour, named David, would tell the jury that he and Jason had been mowing their lawn on the afternoon of August 1.
When they had finished, they had a ‘few beers’ and they were joined at various points by their respective wives.
‘I think the wives made mojitos,’ he said.
‘Everything was fine… it was a sunny afternoon… the lawns were mowed. Everything was well.’
At one point Molly told Jason that her parents were coming to visit later that evening.
David and his wife Michelle had dinner plans of their own and retreated back to their house next door to get ready.
Later, David saw Tom Martens arriving and went outside to help him and Jason unload the car.
‘David never saw his friend Jason again,’ said the prosecutor.
Mr Martin said that both defendants had given statements about what had happened that night. He added that both had refused EMT treatment and neither had any ‘bruises, swelling or cuts’.
He said there was a note that one person had observed Ms Martens rubbing her neck at the scene and that she had been told to stop more than once.
Mr Martin said that Trazadone and alcohol had been found in Mr Corbett’s system. He said that an expert would testify that Trazadone is used as a sleep aid and sometimes to treat depression.
Mr Corbett had no medical records to show that he was suffering from either. He also had no prescription for Trazadone.
He said that on July 30, 2015, Molly Martens went to her primary care provider and complained about sleeping problems. She was given a prescription for Trazadone and the prescription was billed.
Testimony from an expert witness will show that Trazadone can cause sleepiness, drowsiness and lack of coordination.
Turning to the amount of blood that was found at the scene, Mr Martin said that a blood spatter expert will show that excessive force was used.
The expert will show, from blood impact patterns, that Mr Corbett was ‘struck with sufficient force that there was blood flying off him’. Evidence will also show that he was struck when he was ‘low on the ground’.
Mr Martins added that the pathologist who did the autopsy will testify that Mr Corbett was struck on the head ‘at least ten times’.
‘Two of those ten places he was struck on more than once,’ he said.
‘Looking at the scalp and skull he can’t tell how many times he was struck in those two places.’
At least one blow was dealt postmortem, the state will allege.
Mr Martins said that Mr Corbett was killed and that Molly Martens and her father, a former FBI agent, killed him. He said that in every case there is a what, when, where and why.
In relation to the why, the question in this case is, ‘Why didn’t they stop?’
In his opening statement, Tom Martens’s lawyer David Freedman told the court that his client and his wife had decided to visit their daughter and her family on August 1, 2015.
It was six months since they had visited Molly, Jason and Mr Corbett’s children, Jack and Sarah, in Wallburg and they thought it would be nice to visit.
Mr Martens, a ‘loving grandfather’ had a little-league baseball bat he wanted to give to Jack.
They arrived at Molly and jason’s house at about 8.30pm. ‘Jason and
‘Blood just about everywhere’ ‘Excessive force’
Molly had been drinking,’ he said. ‘Tom had a glass of wine and some pizza. Jack was at a birthday party and Molly drove Jason to collect him.
‘Tom thought it was late and that he would give him the baseball bat in the morning.’
Tom and his wife Sharon went to bed in a bedroom in the downstairs basement. The court heard that Mr Martens had plans to play golf in the morning. ‘Suddenly, at about 3am, he hears a noise and somebody screaming,’ said Mr Freedman. ‘He’s shocked… he doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s in his underwear and a short-sleeved shirt… he knows upstairs is his daughter… he knows upstairs are his grandchildren.
‘He leaps out of bed. He grabs the 17oz little-league baseball bat.’
Mr Freedman told the court that when Tom Martens walked inside the master bedroom he saw Jason with ‘his hands around Molly’s throat’.
‘All he knows is that Molly is his little girl and her husband has his hands around her throat,’ said Mr Freedman.
Mr Freedman told the court that Tom Martens told Jason to let his daughter go and Jason replied that he was going to kill her.
‘He has Molly in a grip. He [Tom] asked him again to let her go and several times after that. Each time the reply was the same.
‘He hits Jason on the head with the bat.
‘The blood spatter will show that he [Jason] goes down the hallway with Molly,’ he said. ‘All he had to do was let go. That’s why he didn’t stop.’
According to the defence, Mr Corbett then lets Molly go and pushes Tom Martens to the ground. He loses the bat and his glasses.
‘He thinks he is going to lose his life,’ said Mr Freedman.
Jason gets the bat and Mr Martens wrestles it from him. ‘He gets the bat,’ he says. ‘He’s got Jason in front of him and Molly behind Jason.
‘Both going to die’
‘His little girl is behind Jason… if he does not stop Jason they are both going to die.’
Mr Freedman told the court that with ‘adrenaline’ pumping, Mr Martens hits Jason with the bat and he went down.
In relation to pictures that were taken of Mr Corbett’s body, Mr Freedman said that one picture will show a long blond hair in Mr Corbett’s right hand. The hair was never sent for testing.
‘Even in death he was still clutching Molly Corbett, still not letting her go,’ he said.
The piece of hair allegedly found in Mr Corbett’s hand was the focus of her defence lawyer’s opening speech.
Walter Holton said that there is ‘not one mention of this hair’ in the investigation.
He said that photos will also show a mark on her neck.
‘Where did that mark come from?’ he asked jurors.
He said that when police photographers arrived at the scene, his client was outside the house, lying in the foetal position, in shock.
Someone was kind enough to give her a blanket.
He added that testimony in relation to the autopsy would show that there were marks on Mr Corbett’s left arm, but none on his right.
‘What are the possibilities?’ he asked.
The trial continues.