THOMAS MARTENS ADMITTED in a video interview with two investigators that he struck Irishman Jason Corbett with a baseball bat after Martens saw him choking Molly Corbett, Jason’s wife and Martens’ daughter, in August 2015 in the couple’s home in Davidson County in the US.
“I was scared to death that he was going to kill her,” Martens said in the video. “I hit him with the baseball bat.”
“I was scared he was going to kill me,” Martens said about Jason Corbett. “That guy was crazy.”
Prosecutors played the video yesterday during the sentencing hearing for Martens and Molly Corbett in Davidson Superior Court.
Molly Corbett and her father entered arranged pleas on Monday in Jason Corbett’s death.
Jason Corbett (39), an Irish businessman, was found dead in his Davidson County home in the early hours of 2 August 2015.
Martens (73), who is accused of beating Jason Corbett with a baseball bat, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Martens is a retired FBI agent.
Molly Corbett (40), who is accused of striking her husband with a concrete brick, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. Judge David Hall indicated that no contest plea is treated as a form of a guilty plea.
Hall will determine the sentences for Molly Corbett and Martens.
A voluntary manslaughter conviction carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, but that’s only if there are extensive aggravating factors that are unlikely to come into play in this case.
Hall said on Monday that he has the option of giving what would be the much more lenient sentence of probation without active time in prison. During yesterday’s hearing, Hall said that Jason Corbett was a victim of domestic violence.
Martens testified in his own defense during his trial in 2017.
In the video, Martens told an investigator that the sound of an argument in Corbetts’ bedroom woke him up on 2 August 2015. Martens then went upstairs and opened their door and Corbett was choking his daughter.
Martens said that Jason Corbett had consumed 10 beers prior to the struggle with his wife and Martens.
“He was holding her in front of himself,” Martens said of Jason Corbett. “I was afraid that I was going to hit her. I said, ‘Let her go.’”
Jason Corbett then lost his grip on his wife or Molly Corbett managed to free herself from her husband, Martens said. Jason Corbett then grabbed the bat from Martens as Martens’ glasses fell off.
“I got the bat back from him,” Martens said to the investigator. “I can’t tell you how many times I hit him.”
In the video, Martens didn’t mention his daughter striking Jason Corbett with the concrete brick.
Jason Corbett was a big man who has training in martial arts and boxing, Martens said.
After their struggle, Martens and Molly Corbett called 911 and attempted life-saving measures on Jason Corbett, Martens said in the video.
Molly Corbett and Martens were charged with second-degree murder after they were accused of brutally beating Jason Corbett to death with a baseball bat and a concrete paving brick.
Molly Corbett and Martens claimed self-defense, saying Jason Corbett attacked them and threatened their lives.
They said Corbett choked his wife and that Martens came to her rescue with a baseball bat he had intended to give his grandson Jack.
A Davidson County jury convicted Molly Corbett and Martens in a high-profile trial in August 2017 of second-degree murder. A judge sentenced each of them to 20 to 25 years in prison.
However, the North Carolina Court of Appeals later overturned the conviction, finding that the trial judge made prejudicial decisions that prevented the two from mounting a defense. The North Carolina Supreme Court affirmed the lower appellate court’s ruling, sending the case back to Davidson County for a re-trial.
The second trial for Corbett and Martens was scheduled to begin on 6 November with jury selection in Forsyth Superior Court. Judge Hall set that trial date in late April, after granting a request from the lawyers of Corbett and Martens in mid-February to move their trial from Davidson County to Winston-Salem.
The sentencing hearing continues today.
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