An attorney general in the US is to challenge a court ruling allowing a father and daughter convicted of the murder of an Irishman a retrial.

In closing arguments, Davidson County prosecutors alleged that former FBI agent Thomas Martens and his daughter Molly brutally bludgeoned Irish businessman Jason Corbett to death with a metal bat and a concrete paving brick and then concocted a story of self-defense to cover up their crime.

A lead detective falsely told an insurance agent that Molly Martens refused to cooperate and answer questions about the death of her husband, Irish businessman Jason Corbett, an attorney for Ms Martens alleged in court.

Jason Corbett’s father-in-law Thomas Martens told a co-worker that he hated Jason two months before the Irish businessman was found bludgeoned to death, according to testimony at the murder trial today.