Court hears Jason Corbett’s injuries showed 'how terrified Molly Martens and her father were'
Molly Martens arriving at Davidson County Superior Court in Lexington on Tuesday for the sentencing hearing for the death of Jason Corbett.
A judge was forced to warn a courtroom after there were gasps of horror when an expert in “intimate partner violence” described Jason Corbett’s injuries as “a measure of how terrified Molly Martens and her father were” on the night he was beaten to death.
Scott Hampton is the director of Ending the Violence, an organisation based in Dover, New Hampshire, that provides education classes to perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence.
He was giving evidence on day seven of the sentencing hearing of Molly and Tom Martens, who have pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Jason Corbett at his home in North Carolina in 2015.
The Limerick businessman was beaten to death with a brick and baseball bat by his American wife and her former FBI agent father, who are claiming he was an abusive husband.
Tuesday morning's evidence was interrupted for a moment after there was a loud reaction to comments Dr. Hampton made about injuries sustained by Jason Corbett.
After being shown images of Jason Corbett lying on the ground “with his head bashed in,” Prosecutor Alan Martin asked, “Does that look like a reasonable amount of force to you?”
Mr Hampton replied, “It is a measure of how terrified Molly and Tom were.”
His claim caused some members of the courtroom to react in gasps. Mr Corbett’s 17-year-daughter Sarah held her head down while she was comforted by her aunt Tracey Lynch.
At this point, Judge David Hall asked people to control themselves and said if they could not then they should leave the courtroom.
Molly and Tom Martens were found guilty of second-degree murder in 2017 but had their convictions overturned and struck a plea deal last week at the Davidson County Superior Court.
Their sentence hearing is now in its second week and is due to conclude on Thursday.
On Tuesday morning, Dr Hampton described how he wrote a report for the defence team, based on a number of documents and a recording of Jason Corbett and his wife Molly Martens having an argument at their home in Panther Creek Court in North Carolina.
“There was constant berating of Molly,” he claimed.
“She was trying to resolve the situation. She was protecting the children, setting boundaries. Molly is trying to appease Jason.
“She is trying to protect, guide, and set boundaries, she tries to make pancakes to resolve the situation.”
He said Jason had a “sense of dominance and entitlements” which began before they met.
“He didn’t meet her on a dating app, he was looking to employ her.
“He has already established himself. You have no rights.”
He claimed Jason was threatening Molly, who wanted to adopt his children. Their mother died in 2006 following an asthma attack.
“If you don’t get to adopt the kids you can’t leave,” said Dr Hampton.
“That’s how he kept her trapped.
“Everyone can agree Molly is all about the kids, she applied for the job, and she was all about the kids”.
He said killing Jason was of no benefit to Molly Martens because “she would lose the children” no matter what she did.
“If he dies, the kids go home to Ireland,” he said.
“She needed to keep him alive.”
Jason was “physically superior,” he said, and added it was easier for him to push her away.
Prosecutor Alan Martin asked what his opinion was on why Molly Martens had invented a number of stories about her life, including the fact that she had given birth to Sarah Corbett and that she had a sister who died from leukemia.
Mr Hampton replied, “They were things she wished for, it’s not unusual for people to exaggerate things, lying on the stand is different.”
In the afternoon session, the court heard from four character witnesses for Tom Martens including his brother-in-law Michael Earnest and his son Stuart, who referenced how
Mr Earnest described how Mr Martens cared for his sister Sharon while she underwent treatment for ovarian cancer and said he was “an exceptionally dedicated father”.
Stuart Martens said, his father is “my role model who leads by example”.
Former FBI agent Todd Sandstedt who worked with Mr Martens told the court to “open up the dictionary look up the word gentleman, they’ll have a picture of Tom Martens beside it”.
Also giving evidence was Dr George Patrick Corvin, a psychiatry specialist who reviewed Mr Martens in December 2022.
He carried out an assessment and diagnostic evaluation of his “behaviour and control” on the night of Jason Corbett’s death.
He described Mr Martens as having a Type A personality where he tries to solve things “with his thinking”.
“He is meticulous, very organized and very thoughtful, he was easy to interview”, he said.
The sentencing hearing continues.
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