THE father and daughter convicted of murdering a Limerick businessman have succeeded in having their retrial transferred to another part of the US State where the killing took place.
Molly Martens (38) and her former FBI agent father Tom (72) had maintained that they would not receive a fair trial for the second degree murder of Jason Corbett (39) if it was held in Davidson County, North Carolina.
The retrial will now be held next June in Forsyth County, a much larger, more diverse but also more middle-class area.
Prosecutors had insisted that an impartial jury could be selected in Davidson County, a largely working class area where the Martens were convicted of the second degree murder of the Limerick father-of-two following a four week trial in 2017.
But defence lawyers argued the pair had been targeted by a hugely successful social media campaign over the killing of Mr Corbett which had “infected” the potential jury pool in Davidson County.
They told Judge David Hall that “the Irish” were behind the social media campaign and controlled the narrative that Molly Corbett and Tom Martens were murderers.
Allowing the defence application for a transfer of venue, Judge Hall said he was “troubled” by the sheer scale of publicity the case has attracted and its impact on potential jurors. He added that the high standard of requirements for the transfer had been achieved.
A strict ‘gagging order’ imposed by Judge Hall means that no parties to the case are allowed to comment without his express approval.
Mr Corbett was beaten to death on August 2, 2015 in the bedroom of his North Carolina home with a metal baseball bat and a concrete brick by his American-born second wife and her father.
The Corbett family remain adamant the attack was sparked by a row over control of his two young children, Jack and Sarah, who are now living in Limerick.
Tom and Molly Martens insisted they acted in self defence though both were found totally uninjured at the scene by police.
Both were unanimously convicted by a Davidson County Superior Court in August 2017, and sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison for second degree murder.
A full retrial was ordered after the Martens won an appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court two years ago. They were released from prison having served over three and a half years of their sentences.
The retrial is set for June 26.
