THE sister of slain Limerick businessman Jason Corbett has written of her “struggles” after news emerged that persistent jail rule breaches by one of her brother’s killers have been inexplicably wiped from the record.
Convicted killer Molly Martens, who was married to Mr Corbett when she and her father beat him to death in August 2015, has seen her record of multiple rule breaches in two separate US jails wiped clean.
It comes after news that the former nanny (40) and her father, former FBI agent Tom Martens (73), will both be released from North Carolina prisons on June 27 this year.
“Reflecting on the past months, still going through struggles, but writing helped me cope,” Tracey Corbett Lynch wrote on her X (formerly Twitter) account.
“As we grow older, we all face the loss of loved ones and I found myself deep in thoughts of what is lost to me – people, justice, time.”
In her motivational post, Mr Corbett’s sister made a New Year call for people to “support each other through this unknown journey with open hearts and a hunger for knowledge”.
“It’s uncharted territory, but with an open mind, hope can be revived.”
She continued that “memories of the past endure, but let’s forge connections and step into this uncharted path, united by compassion for one another.”
Molly and Tom Martens are now completing four-year and three-month sentences imposed for the voluntary manslaughter of Irish widower Jason Corbett (39) in August 2015.
Both successfully appealed against their 2017 convictions for the second-degree murder of the Janesboro father of two.
The father and daughter beat Mr Corbett to death as he slept with a metal baseball bat and a concrete paving slab.
Molly Martens – who is classified as a model inmate, despite the fact she had been cited five separate times for breaking prison rules between 2017 and 2021 – will now enjoy the same early release date as her father, it has emerged.
The Martens had served three years and eight months of their 20-25-year prison terms before their murder convictions were overturned by the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Their voluntary manslaughter hearing held last November – which heard emotional pleas for heavy sentences from Mr Corbett’s two children, Jack (19) and Sarah (17), who were left orphaned by their father’s killing after their birth mother Mags Fitzpatrick died in 2006 after suffering a severe asthma attack – added seven months to the Martens’ sentences.
During her time in custody on the second-degree murder charge, Molly Martens was cited for five separate prison rule breaches, ranging from refusing to obey the order of a prison guard to being in an unsanctioned area of the jail and being in possession of non-dangerous contraband.
Ms Martens is now considered a model inmate, and any record of her previous infractions has been wiped from her official North Carolina Department of Corrections (NCDC) status.
It’s reported that current NCDC records indicate that Ms Martens has no record of prison infractions.
Under North Carolina law, inmates who fail to abide by prison rules may not qualify for early release under minimum sentence calculations.
In recent weeks, Molly and Tom Martens were moved from Davidson County jail in North Carolina after a major embarrassment was caused over their proposed early release after having served just four weeks of a seven-month sentence extension.
NCDC officials later admitted that early-release dates of December 5, 2023, for Tom and December 6, 2023, for Molly were incorrect after a mistake was made in calculating their release and parole details by the Combined Records Office (CRO).
Tom Martens is in protective measures in custody because of his status as a former law enforcement official with the FBI, while Molly is currently in the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women (NCCI) in Raleigh.
