The killers of Limerick man, Jason Corbett, have been granted bail on a bond of $200,000.
Mr Corbett’s wife, Molly Martens Corbett (37) and her father Thomas Martens (71), both appeared before Davidson County courthouse for a bail hearing shortly after 7pm Irish time.
They were each ordered to surrender their passport and not make contact with the Corbett family.
Last month their 2017 convictions for Mr Corbett’s murder were overturned and a retrial ordered.
The pair were also considering a plea bargain deal offered by the Davidson County District Attorney, to admit to manslaughter instead of face a retrial and only serve up to an additional two years in jail.
They have already served four years of the 20-25 years sentences imposed on them for Mr Corbett’s second degree murder.Their 2017 murder trial heard they beat Mr Corbett (39) to death with a metal baseball bat and a concrete paving brick.
The trial jury did not believe the Martens claim that they were acting in self defence when Tom Martens said he walked in on his son in law choking his daughter.
Mr Corbett’s sister, Tracey Corbett Lynch, travelled to North Carolina with Mr Corbett’s children Jack (16) and Sarah (14), in recent days to get an update from the District Attorney in charge of prosecuting the case.
Ms Corbett Lynch said her family was “devastated” to learn of the DA’s offer to the Martens, which she said, “has let them get away with murder”.
Molly Martens had flown to Limerick after she was hired by Mr Corbett to be nanny to his two children from his first marriage to Margaret Fitzpatrick-Corbett, after Ms Fitzpatrick tragically passed away from an asthma attack in 2006.
They later formed a relationship and married in North Carolina, where Mr Corbett and his two children relocated.
Despite the Martens’ claiming Molly was attacked by Jason on the night he died, and that she and her father had fought back using weapons, their trial heard that traces of a sedative drug were later found in Mr Corbett’s system and their were no defence wounds or marks on either Molly or Tom.
Almost 9,000 signatures have been added to an online petition launched by the Corbett family, which seeks a “Retrial for Molly and Tom Martens”, which will be sent to Davidson County DA, Garry Frank.
In a letter to US President Joe Biden, DA Garry Frank, Jason Corbett’s brother, John P Corbett, wrote of his “dismay” at the plea bargain offer to “two cold narcissistic individuals”.
“My many colleagues in the UK NHS health system, are also totally dismayed how two cold blooded murderer's are being gifted leniency by the North Carolina Justice system,” said Mr Corbett, who is based in East Anglia.
“Two cold individuals who used weapons way beyond the reasonable amount of force necessary to kill someone (I have 21 years military service). Two individuals who did not have a scratch on them..(in their obscene self defence plea). Some individuals would get five years in prison for theft.”
