Molly Martens and father Thomas for court ahead of Jason Corbett murder retrial
Molly Martens Corbett, 33, enters the Davidson County Courthouse in Lexington, North Carolina, USA, on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. Picture: Jerry Wolford.
Molly Corbett and her father, Thomas Martens, who are facing murder and manslaughter charges in the death of Irish businessman Jason Corbett, are scheduled to attend a court hearing tomorrow, Monday, October 30, in Davidson Superior Court.
Judge David Hall will preside over the 10am hearing in courtroom 6 in the Davidson County Courthouse in Lexington, court officials say.
It’s unclear what will take place during the court hearing.
Alan Martin, an assistant district attorney in Davidson County, declined to discuss the case Wednesday.
An administrative assistant for District Attorney Garry Frank of Davidson County indicated that Frank was unable to comment on the case.
Jones Byrd of Winston-Salem, one of Martens’ attorneys, also declined to comment on the case.
Corbett, 40, and Martens, 73, are facing second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter charges in the 2015 death of her husband, Jason Corbett. Jason Corbett was found dead in the home he shared with Molly Corbett on August 2, 2015.
Molly Corbett and Martens are accused of brutally beating Jason Corbett to death with a baseball bat and a concrete paving brick. Molly Corbett and Martens have claimed self-defense, saying Jason Corbett attacked them and threatened their lives.
A Davidson County jury convicted Molly Corbett and Martens in a high-profile trial in August 2017 of second-degree murder. A judge sentenced each of them to 20 to 25 years in prison.
However, the NC Court of Appeals overturned the convictions, finding that the trial judge made prejudicial decisions that prevented the two from mounting a defense. The NC Supreme Court affirmed the lower appellate court's ruling, sending the case back to Davidson County for a re-trial.
The second trial for Corbett and Martens is scheduled to begin November 6 with jury selection in Forsyth Superior Court, a court officials said. Hall set the trial date in late April.
In mid-February, Hall granted requests from the attorneys of Corbett and Martens to move their trial from Davidson County to Winston-Salem.
At that time, Hall said Forsyth County was "the most proper venue" for the second murder trial of Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens.
The attorneys for Molly Corbett and Martens argued in court that extensive social-media comments about the case have possibly affected potential jurors in Davidson County, preventing the father and daughter from getting a fair trial.
The case has attracted intense and widespread media coverage, including international news coverage. Prosecutors as well as Molly Corbett and Martens and their attorneys are entitled to fair and impartial jurors in the trial, Hall has said.
Hall has imposed a gag order on everyone involved in the case, including prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys and potential witnesses, prohibiting them from making any public statements.
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