THE daughter of murdered Janesboro man Jason Corbett has expressed her disappointment at the news that one of her father’s killers was recently moved to a minimum security prison, just weeks after he and his daughter almost walked free in a mix-up about their scheduled release dates.
In a message posted on her X (formerly Twitter) account, 17-year-old Sarah Corbett Lynch said that she was disappointed “to see the preferential treatment continues” for the pair who killed her father.
Sarah’s former US step-mother Molly Martens and step-grandfather Tom Martens were initially convicted of her father’s murder at his US home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in August 2015, and jailed for 20 to 25 years.
In 2020, a retrial was ordered due to an appeal court deciding that some evidence had been excluded from the original trial.
Then, last month, Molly and Thomas Martens accepted a plea deal of voluntary manslaughter upon appeal and they received a prison sentence of between 51 and 74 months, taking into account the 44 months already served.
It’s now emerged that Tom Martens was recently moved to a minimum security prison.
In response, Sarah Corbett Lynch retweeted a message posted by X account ‘Jasoncorbettsjourney’ which said that: “Nothing surprises me anymore, of course he was given a “cushy” number. Friends in high places”.
Others posted their revulsion at Mr Martens move to a less secure prison, after he admitted he bludgeoned Mr Corbett to death with a metal baseball bat.
His daughter Molly admitting beating her husband to death with a concrete paving slab. They both attacked him while he slept in the couple’s bedroom. The Martens claimed they acted in self defence, but there was little or no evidence to support this.
“Absolutely disgusting. I’m so sorry for your pain and the lack of real accountability and justice,” wrote a supporter of the Corbett family in response to the posts.
Molly and Tom Martens had been moved from Davidson County Jail to high security prisons just days after their prison date blunders were exposed by media, which retraumatised Jason’s family and left prison officials embarrassed.
The Department of Adult Correction in North Carolina confirmed the imminent release dates for the pair as December 5 and December 6 displayed on their publicly available prison records were correct after being contacted by the Irish Mirror two weeks ago.
But later, red-faced prison officials admitted to a mix up due to “human error” and reversed their embarrassing error on their release dates which then prevented the pair from walking free.
Prison officials were forced to then admit the killers would be behind bars until next June, the Mirror reported.
Former FBI agent Tom Martens (73) was moved from Davidson County Jail to Piedmont Correctional Institute, a high security prison, on December 5 following the release date blunder, while Molly (40) was moved to North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women.
Molly Martens remains in North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women in Raleigh, but her father has been moved to a “cushy” minimum security prison – Caldwell Correctional Centre in Lenoir, North Carolina – where he is availing of a single bed cell and academic classes.
The prison is described on its website as a “minimum security prison for adult males that provides work opportunities and re-entry services.”
The prison website describes the facility as having “a 40-bed single-cell segregation building for housing misdemeanants with serious felony charges pending and offenders in disciplinary segregation”.
“Caldwell Community College works with the prison to provide vocational and academic classes,” the website states.
Its understood the Corbett family were not aware nor were they informed by Department of Adult Correction (DAC) of Tom Martens’ prison move.
Meanwhile, Sarah Corbett Lynch is trying to somehow move on with her life.
In a pinned post on X on December 11, she wrote how she was “delighted” to have signed with talent agency Red Kite as she follows her dream of being a Hollywood actor.
