Irish Examiner March 09th 2016
Murder accused must return items taken from US home
A consent order agreed between Mr Corbett’s estate and Ms Martens last September stated that she was not to remove any “tangible personal property” owned either solely by Mr Corbett or jointly by the couple.
However documents filed by the Superior Court of Davidson County in North Carolina this week show that, on January 21, Ms Martens “took a majority of the tangible personal property located in the home and placed that property in storage”. The documents state that after Ms Martens had removed items from the house “the only property left in the home was Mr Corbett’s clothes, property that Mr Corbett brought to the home from Ireland, and items owned by Mr Corbett’s children”.
SHIPWASH RULING ON ESTATE LINK
The Irish Daily Mail 16th March 2016
MOLLY Marten’s lawyers have lashed out at the courts over the handling of the Jason Corbett murder case. A motion was filed on Monday by attorney Walter Holton and asked that Clerk of Superior Court Brian Shipwash be removed from the case. The legal team has accused the clerk of court and a lawyer representing her late husband’s estate with hiding unethical, secretive conversations.
The motion has also asked for Mr Shipwash to hand over all his communications about it and for a judge to re - examine decisions about the guardianship of Jason Corbett’s two children.
Mr Holton claims that ‘conduct by the Clerk is so egregious as to necessitate the disqualification of Mr Shipwash from any future proceedings in this matter’.
Irish Daily Mail March 31st 2016
JASON’S FAMILY: MOLLY SENT US AMBULANCE BILL
THE ambulance bill for the night that slain Jason Corbett was taken to hospital has been sent to his family by lawyers for Molly Martens, the wife accused of murdering him.
Distraught relatives of the father, whose death left his two young children orphaned, are said to be ‘shocked and saddened’ by the arrival of the invoice.
They received the bill over the Easter weekend, a time when the family were sure to have been trying to buoy the spirits of Jason’s bereft children, Jack and Sarah. The letter was described as a ‘very blunt and cold’ reminder to the family of the father of two’s death. It arrived just ahead of the murder co accused Ms Martens, 31, and her father Thomas, 65, appearing in court next Monday.
A source close to the family said they were deeply upset by receiving the bill. ‘It came as a devastating blow,’ said the source. ‘It was very " Heartless’ and ‘vindictive’ and upsetting to read an invoice for an ambulance, very blunt and cold.’
Mr Holden said: ‘That is absolutely 100% false. Absolutely nothing has been sent by Molly or her lawyers and if anybody is saying that they are fabricating the story. ‘I’m not saying the invoice is fabricated, I’m telling you, neither Molly nor her lawyers sent that invoice.’ However he later admitted in fact they had sent the bills to the Lynch estate attorney Edward Griggs. Speaking to the Mail, Mr Holden added: ‘Apparently, about a month ago, Bryan Thompson on behalf of Molly [Martens], handed to Mr Griggs a number of bills and that’s been several weeks ago. So, Mr Griggs must’ve just mailed them to his client.’
When asked if the bills would have included the ambulance invoice, he said: ‘Yes. Sent in November or December to Edward Griggs [estate attorney for David Lynch].’ Mr Holden said: ‘Any medical bill would be sent to the estate, it’s up to the estate lawyers to notify the medical providers, like the ambulance, of their address and where the bills are to be sent. They have to send a notice to all creditors, which would include medical providers, of the address, where to send the bill.
‘David Lynch [Jason Corbett’s brother-in-law] is the executor of the estate, he is responsible for all bills of the estate. That’s the one that is legally responsible for any and all bills of the estate. Including medical bills.’ Efforts to contact the Lynches’ attorney, Edward Griggs, proved unsuccessful
News and Record April 7th 2016
LEXINGTON — Attorneys for Molly Martens Corbett and her father, Thomas Michael Martens, said after an administrative hearing Wednesday they are concerned that their clients may not get a fair trial in Davidson County. During the hearing at Davidson County Superior Court, attorneys Walter Holton and Cheryl Andrews, who represent Molly Corbett, and David Freedman, one of Martens’ attorneys, voiced concerns that the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office may have seen and used information that is inadmissible because of attorney/client privilege.
Freedman said the defense attorneys have extended openness to the sheriff’s office, and he hopes he can expect the same from them.
“We’ve had Tom and Molly available for interviews, and they haven’t interviewed them,” Freedman said. “We said there wasn’t any need for search warrants because we’ll give them any information they want, but they went and executed all these warrants.”
Lexington Dispatch April 12th 2016
Judge grants stay in Irish man’s estate case
A Davidson County Superior Court judge has granted a stay in the clerk of superior court’s decision from March in an estate matter of the Irish man killed in Wallburg last year.
Judge Mark Klass granted the stay Tuesday after hearing from the attorneys of Molly Corbett and Ronald R. Davis, an attorney for the estate of Jason Corbett. Corbett and her father, Thomas Martens, were both indicted Jan. 4 by the Davidson County Grand Jury on the charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the death of Jason Corbett.
“I thought it was a fair and the right thing to do to just stabilize the situation,” Walter Holton Jr., an attorney for Molly Corbett, said, referring to Klass’ action.
Klass’ decision to stay essentially means that Davidson County Clerk of Superior Court Brian Shipwash’s order not be enforced at this time, Holton said. The motion to stay surrounds an appeal to Shipwash’s order. There is no court date set for the appeal.
As part of the stay, Klass ordered that $600,000 in funds be held by the Davidson County Clerk of Court’s Office. Those funds, which according to courtroom remarks Tuesday are from a life insurance policy, were in a trust account.
″(Klass) also ordered that a car that was subject of the previous order be sold and those funds (placed) into the clerk of court as well,” Holton said.
Shipwash previously ordered that all assets, including all insurance proceeds, be turned over to the court and be held by the court until the court or other courts with jurisdiction order otherwise.
Evoke.ie April15th 2016
Lawyers for Molly Martens make new claims in Corbett murder case
Lawyers for Molly Martens claim her husband was drunk and on antidepressants, which caused him to fly into a violent rage on the night he was killed. An ABC report in the US this week said the defence were claiming the medical autopsy report had found traces of an antidepressant drug in the father of two’s system. The autopsy report did find that Mr Corbett had a blood alcohol content of 0.02%, below the legal limit of 0.08% for the state. Walter Holton, attorney for Ms Martens, said: ‘The medical examiner report indicates that some 30 hours after his death they drew the blood and that blood had an alcohol content of 0.02% but it’s not indicative of what the content of his blood would have been on the night that this incident happened.’ Mr Holton told ABC: ‘[Mr Corbett] was violent that night, what caused that, whether alcohol contributed to that or whether a drug contributed to that is for experts to opine about.
Speaking to EVOKE.ie previously Molly Martens lawyer David Freedman said Molly had been on ‘antidepressants’ when she was very young but had ‘not been on medications for years and years.’ It followed allegations by Molly’s sister in law Tracey Lynch in court filings after her brother’s death that Molly had been ‘diagnosed with bipolar disorder from a young age, and claimed the children’s stepmother left her lithium medication lying around, and also suffered from other medical conditions.’
Limerick Post May 10th 2016
Detectives investigating if Molly moved money to new account after Jason’s killing
Investigators, under the power of a search warrant, are checking transfers made after to a Bank of America account in Molly Martens sole name after August 2 last. The money is alleged to have moved from a joint account held by the couple before Jason’s killing. Detective Wanda Thompson applied to the US courts to launch the probe as she had “probable cause to believe that within days of her husband’s death Molly Martens may have moved monies from joint bank accounts held by her and her husband and these monies were used to open a separate bank account in the name of Molly Paige Martens”. Detectives became aware of the account after a trawl of the financial records and Google accounts obtained under a previous warrant. It is alleged that in the days after Jason Corbett’s death, large amounts of money were moved from the joint account. It is also alleged that up to $60,000 was moved from Jason’s account just days before his death. Detectives say that Jason Corbett’s financial status was being investigated as a motive for his killing.
The Irish Daily Mail May 13th 2016
Corbett's trail lawyers do not want children's statements used
PROSECUTORS in North Carolina have moved to prevent interviews given to social workers by Jason Corbett’s two children being referred to in the trial over his killing. In a motion filed in North Carolina yesterday, the state has deemed that interviews with Jack and Sarah Corbett, carried out in August 2015 by various social workers, ‘constitute inadmissible hearsay’. Prosecutors have applied for a court order barring reference to any such interviews or recordings ‘unless and until the court conducts a hearing outside the presence of the jury and deems the evidence admissible’. In a further motion, the state has requested that the court orders that no request is made for the jury to ‘put themselves in the place of the defendant’. The motion states: ‘The state has concerns that the defence may ask jurors to put themselves in the position of the defendant in this matter in which the defence alleges ‘self-defence.’
Irish Daily Mail June 27th 2016
Molly's bid to block statement made by son of Jason
LAWYERS for Molly Martens have moved to prevent prosecutors using a video interview with Jason Corbett’s orphaned son as evidence in her trial for the murder of the father of two.
Jack Corbett was interviewed by prosecutors in May via video link from the Limerick home he now shares with his aunt and uncle. In documents filed in North Carolina this week, Ms Martens’s legal representatives allege that the May interview is ‘not trustworthy’ and is ‘inadmissible’ under the North Carolina rules of evidence. In outlining the case to have the evidence ruled out, it is alleged that separately, both Jack and Sarah were interviewed on several occasions in August 2015 in North Carolina. Ms Martens is not contesting the admissibility of these particular interviews. On Monday, August 3, 2015, personnel from the Union County Department of Social Services travelled to Ms Martens’s brother’s home, where Jack and Sarah were staying. Each child was interviewed separately in the home, in the absence of Molly Martens, who was in Winston Salem at the time with her father.
On Thursday, August 6, 2015, immediately after a funeral service for their father, Jack and Sarah attended a child medical evaluation at Dragonfly House. This was arranged by the Davidson County Sheriff’s office. The child medical examination included individual, videotaped, forensic interviews with each child, followed by a physical examination by a paediatrician. Ms Martens’s lawyers allege that ‘ten months after the death of Mr Corbett’, the State obtained a video interview with Jack. It is alleged the statement was given in Limerick ‘in the home of the brother-in-law of Jason Corbett’.
The document claims the statement ‘attempts to contradict the prior statements of Jack Corbett’ and contains ‘factual inaccuracies.’
In contrast, Ms Martens’s lawyers have no objections to the interviews of August 2015 being used in evidence.
David and Tracey Lynch declined to comment on the allegations made in the latest court filings.
It is understood that the interview did take place in their home, but neither Mrs Lynch nor her husband were present
The Independent.ie
Molly Martens defence team: Children saw slain Jason Corbett 'punch and hit her'
The children of slain Irishman Jason Corbett told social workers he punched his wife in the face and rolled his car over her foot, according to court documents filed in the US. In documents seen by Independent.ie, a defence motion filed with Davidson Superior Court gives details from three separate interviews between each of the children and social workers last year. “Each child reported similar incidents of verbal and physical abuse by Jason Corbett upon Molly Corbett,” the motion claims. The filing refers to another meeting with a trained therapist three days later, which was observed by detective via a two-way mirror.
During the interview, Sarah reportedly described how her father would start fights for “ridiculous reasons” and said he would “hurt her mom”. The documents include further allegations made by the child that Jason pulled Molly’s hair, rolled over her foot with a car, called her “worthless” and hit her in the face. The filing states that Jack claimed to have seen his father “punch, hit and push” his stepmother and pushed her down on one occasion because “he wanted to look through her phone”. He said Jason “would cuss and scream at her” and she “would cry and try to block her ears”. Jack claimed his father’s behaviour worsened and that Molly “would scream for him to stop but she would just ball up under the covers and block her ears”, according to the paperwork.
The Irish Examiner October 13th 2016
Paediatrician who attended Jason Corbett's children must release notes
Mr Corbett’s two children from a previous marriage were seen by a specialist paediatrician in the days following his death. Now Dr Evelyn Amy Suttle of Dragonfly House, North Carolina, has been instructed to produce all “medical records, reports, notes, forms, or other documents generated” relating to the medical examinations of Jack and Sarah Corbett during their time at the children’s advocacy centre.Court documents released last week have revealed the Superior Court of Davidson County in North Carolina last week ruled Ms Martens’ right to a fair trial “outweighs any confidentiality statutes or other confidential protections shielding the requested documents from production and the interests of justice require the materials be produced”.
Greensboro News & Record December 20th 2016
The children of Jason Corbett, who was found bludgeoned to death last year in his Davidson County home, will stay with their aunt and uncle in Ireland after a decision Tuesday by the N.C. Court of Appeals, ending more than a year of an international custody battle. The children’s stepmother, Molly Corbett, 33, had sought custody and guardianship of the two children, Sarah, 9, and Jack, 12, soon after Jason Corbett, 39, an Irish citizen, was found dead on Aug. 2, 2015, in the couple’s house in the Meadowlands, a golf community in Davidson County. In August, Superior Court Clerk Brian Shipwash granted guardianship to the children’s aunt and uncle, Tracey and David Lynch, who live in Ireland. District Judge April Wood dismissed Molly Corbett’s request for custody. The appellate court said Tuesday that Wood’s decision was the right one. The mother of the children, Margaret Fitzpatrick Corbett, died of an asthma attack on Nov. 21, 2006. The Lynches are happy with the court’s decision, their attorney, Kim Bonuomo, said Tuesday. “They are overwhelmed and relieved,” she said. The custody battle was marked by allegations that Molly Corbett physically and emotionally abused the children. In court papers, Tracey Lynch accused Molly Corbett of being obsessed with getting the children to call her “Mom.” On one occasion, Molly Corbett held Jack in the sink as “water poured into Jack’s mouth,” Tracey Lynch alleged in court papers. Molly Corbett denied those allegations in court papers
The Irish Daily Mail December 24th 2016
TO ONLOOKERS, the pretty blonde in the tiny blue shorts was just another runner. It was July 4 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and as the 34year-old mingled with families and participants at the Farragut Freedom run, nobody could have imagined she had any particular worries on her mind.
Looking as insouciant as ever, she breezed over the finish line, clutching an iPhone in one hand and waving to onlookers with the other. Yet beyond all the smiles and laughter, few may have known that runner number 2103 might have been enjoying her last Independence Day as a free woman. Facing charges over the brutal death of her husband Jason Corbett, Molly Martens looks set to finally stand trial early next year. It was one of the last times she was seen in Winston Salem, North Carolina, where she lived with Jason and his two children up until his death. Since then, while quietly and relentlessly dragging Jason’s sister and brother-in-law through the courts to get custody of Jason’s two children, she has relocated back to her family in Knoxville, Tennessee, almost four hours away. From the comfort of her hometown and the added protective shelter of her childhood home, she has quietly begun ‘moving forward’ with her life. In a change from her previous incarnation as a ‘stay-at-home mom’ who was financed by her husband, she has enrolled as a student at Pellissippi State College, where she is studying interior design.
Posting underneath pictures of Tom Martens at the swim meet, Wayne Corbett wrote: ‘It’s very frustrating to see Thomas Martens and Molly Martens attending public events and people are unaware that these people are charged with the murder of my twin brother. It is in the public interest to be aware that these people are charged with murder.’
He added: ‘And I know my twin Jason would love to walk around or swim and do every day things. But those things that everyone of us take for granted were cruelly taken away from my twin Jason Corbett... I just think the public should be aware who is walking around with them.’
An autopsy report on Jason’s body puts his time of death at 3.24am, when emergency responders found him at the scene.
It is understood that expert testimony and forensic evidence will be used to suggest that Jason died before a 3am 911 call was placed by Molly. Investigators also plan to call a blood spatter expert to state that Jason was bludgeoned to death in a sustained attack when the case comes to trial.
Sources close to the prosecution have indicated that the pattern of blood spatter in the master bedroom, where the alleged crime took place, is not consistent with the accused duo’s version of events.
‘We have a blood spatter expert who will talk about the pattern that was left at the scene,’ says a source. ‘His or her forensic evidence will cast doubt over the assertion that the accused parties acted in selfdefence.’ In the months that have passed, speculation is mounting as to when both defendants will stand trial. It’s understood that the Corbett family had hoped for a trial before Thanksgiving in November. However, this week the Davidson County District Attorney in North Carolina told the Mail that a trial was unlikely to take place for another few months.
Between collecting race medals and interior decorating, she may have had little time to think about the year ahead.
But for all the attempts to move on, Molly Martens — the ‘doting stepmom’, the ‘talented athlete’, the alleged ‘husband-killer’ — will soon have to face up to the past.