‘It does not make sense,’ says judge as Martens pair sent back to jail

Judge finds 'holes in evidence' of Tom and Molly Martens as court hears emotional testimony from children who say they were coached to lie

Sarah Corbett, Tracey Corbett Lynch, and Jack Corbett arriving at Davidson County Superior Court in Lexington for the sentence hearing for the killing of Jason Corbett.

The family of Jason Corbett wept and held each other during Wednesday afternoon’s session at Davidson County Court in North Carolina as they waited to learn the fate of his killers.

They delivered several lengthy victim impact statements before Judge David Hall who listened intently. The statements included one from the family of Mr Corbett’s first wife Mags, who died in 2006.

Sarah Corbett was last to speak. The 17-year-old said her stepmother had abused her and her brother Jack and had posted photos of her “all over Facebook”.

After she went back to Ireland to live with her aunt, “Molly threatened to fly a plane over my school with a banner on it”, she said.

“I was 11,” she said, “can you imagine what that was like?” She said she felt “betrayed” by what had been done to her, and found sitting in the courtroom for the duration of this hearing traumatic.

Earlier, Molly Martens told the court, “not a day goes by when I don’t regret what happened” on the night of August 2, 2015, but that she did “the best I could in the circumstances”.

“I mourn what could have been,” she said.

Throughout the week-long sentencing hearing, her legal team had claimed Mr Corbett tried to kill her and that he was an abusive husband.

For his part, Molly’s father Tom Martens said he was only trying to “protect his daughter” but that he accepted responsibility for his actions.

'It makes no sense'

In his ruling, Judge Hall said he did not “know the truth” of what happened that night, but the one thing that struck him was why Tom Martens didn’t “call for back up”.

He said the former FBI agent had spent his life enforcing the law and living as a law-abiding citizen, but that “there was no 911 call” on the night of Jason’s death until after he died, and “that is another big hole”.

Judge Hall also described how Molly and Tom Martens barely had “a mark on them” after Mr Corbett supposedly attacked Molly and tried to strangle her.

Tom Martens’ wife Sharon, who was sleeping downstairs in the Corbett house with her husband, “also did not call 911”, he pointed out.

“It makes no sense,” said Judge Hall. “I’ve listened intently to everything in this horrible tragedy”, but he could not fathom why when Tom and Sharon Martens heard “noises” from upstairs, they did not call the emergency services.

“Why would one gentleman, a pillar of the community, choose a baseball bat and not call the police? It does not make sense,” he said.

During her impact statement, Mr Corbett’s sister Tracey Lynch, who has raised his children since his death, told the court that she “still receives hate mail” from the Martens’ supporters.

She said she had to get to know her niece and nephew anew when they came to live with her because for a number of years “Molly Martens would not allow it”.

She also described how both she and her husband David had been in the advanced stages of adopting their foster child when her brother was killed, and she took Jack and Sarah into her care.

“I still mourn that loss,” she said, explaining that her foster child had to go back into the care system because she could no longer “meet her needs” with the tragedy that came to the family.

Both the Martens were led away in handcuffs and Judge Hall described the Corbett children as “deeply honest” with a “good background”, reinforcing his view that they were blameless in the situation.

Tom Martens’ counsel Jones Byrd said he didn’t expect his client to appeal the sentence and that his only concern was “his family”.

“I expect him to be out after seven months,” he told reporters.

Molly Corbett was the first to be sentenced. She stood up before Judge Hall, who returned her to jail.

Dressed in the same outfit, a blue dress and black jacket, that she wore when she was convicted of second-degree murder in 2017, she wept and stared at her family who were sitting in the courtroom.

Her mother Sharon sobbed as did several members of the Martens family including Molly’s brother Stuart who had given a character reference for his father on Tuesday.

Judge Hall ordered a full psychiatric assessment of Molly Martens and ordered her to be placed on suicide watch before adding that he noted “the pain she has expressed” during the trial.

'Molly was all about the kids'

Earlier on Wednesday morning, the state prosecutor in the sentence hearing of Molly and Tom Martens broke down during his closing statement and said the Corbett family has had “enough of the drama”.

Alan Martin told Davidson County Court it is a “miracle” that Mr Corbett’s children Jack and Sarah Corbett did not witness their father being beaten to death with a brick and baseball bat in August 2015.

Mr Martin said: “It is nothing but a miracle that these two children do not have the sights and sounds forever seared into their brains… nothing but a miracle.”

Addressing the court, Mr Martin said, unlike the first trial in 2017, where a baseball bat and brick were bashed on a table in front of the jury, “that is not going to happen here today”.

“These folks have had enough of the show,” he said. “There will be no demos of a bat and brick pounding on the table. You’ve all seen the photos.

“It was a vicious, horrible, brutal event. Jason’s statement died with him, Jason is in the carpets, walls, and ceilings. Jason has been silenced.” 

He described how Molly Martens had a complicated relationship with the truth and said she was “future casting” and had “wish fulfilments” and that she had lied to friends about giving birth to Sarah Corbett.

“Her wish fulfilments are as real and reliable as the stretch marks she got when she gave birth,” he said.

Tom Martens and Molly Martens, who have been sent back to jail. File picture

He said Molly Martens had “never accepted responsibility” for her actions on the night her husband died. “She was casting blame on everyone else. Everything was Jason’s fault.”

He said she had invented a life for herself and had told friends she was close to Jack and Sarah’s mother Margaret ’Mags’ Corbett who died in 2006 and that she asked Molly to rear her children. She had never met Mags Corbett.

“We need to look at the bigger picture here,” he said. “Molly was all about the children. That is the thread that runs through this case. That is the forest.

“The big picture in this case was Molly was all about the kids. But she was not the natural mother of these children, rather the stepmother.” He said she came to Ireland to marry Mr Corbett so she could divorce him and “take his kids”.

“She knew the end was coming,” he said. “They are not her kids and never will be.

“Molly Martens has not taken responsibility. Her father Tom Martens has.

“Mr Martens would do anything for his kids, we heard. Molly won’t even walk away from the kids. She wouldn’t let go of something she wanted but could not have.

“Molly had a choice, all she had to do was quit living a lie.” 

He said the entire family was “living a lie”, Molly did not want to be with her husband, and he was not happy being married to her.

'Clock was running out'

“The clock was running out for her years-long plans to get the kids. Jason only had to get them on a plane to Ireland and leave them there. She wanted Jason out of the house and custody of the kids. She was meeting an attorney within eight months of marrying him.”

He said she wanted “some type of event” to happen so that she could leave Jason and take his children.

He then spoke about the death of Mags Corbett who died after an asthma attack. Molly Martens had told friends she believed her husband had killed his first wife and she was “afraid” the same thing would happen to her.

Mr Martin said discussion and speculation around Mags Corbett’s death are “irrelevant, meaningless, and speculative” and to have her name brought into court was “reckless”.

During Mr Martin’s closing speech, Molly Martens turned her back to him and cried into a tissue. She could be seen wiping tears away as she sat facing her legal team.

Mr Martins also outlined the scene of Jason’s death, as “a scene of carnage, on carnage”.

Counsel for Molly Martens, Doughlas Kingsbury, had claimed she was acting in self-defence and that her husband was abusive to her.

He said Molly Martens was often found in a “foetal position” because she was being abused by her husband.

“She was crying and really upset” on the night of her husband’s death, “she was obviously in shock”, he said.

Tom Martens’ legal team described him as a man of exemplary character and that he admitted his actions on the night of Mr Corbett’s death but that he was only protecting his daughter.

Lawyer Jones Byrd said he had already spent 44 months in prison and is “needed at home” to care for his wife Sharon who is going blind.

“His only concern at the time of his conviction in 2015 was his family and that’s all it is now.”

He said on the night he beat Mr Corbett over the head he “was trying to protect his daughter” but he admitted using excessive force.