DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. — Molly Corbett and her father, Tom Martens, were released from prison on Thursday.
Investigators said the two killed Molly’s husband, Jason Corbett, in Davidson County back in 2015.
Molly’s attorney, Douglas Kingsberry, said she’s thankful to be alive and thankful for the justice system.
“She’s going to be receiving a tremendous amount of support. She has so many people that have been praying for her and anxious for her, and she’s going to be with a large community of supporters like that, which is going to be good for her and help bring closure to all of this for her, so she’ll be in a good place,” Kingsberry said.
Others are feeling disappointed.
Jason Corbett’s family posted on Facebook Thursday morning, saying Molly and her father should still be in prison.
The family wrote, “Molly Corbett relentlessly put Jack and Sarah, Jason’s two children, into the center of her bid to evade justice with a web of lies.”
Molly and her father served a little over four years in prison on and off.
This all started back in August 2015 when Molly’s parents came into town to visit the couple and Jason’s two children.
Late that evening, Tom Martens said he woke up to the couple arguing and found Jason strangling his daughter.
Martens hit Jason Corbett in the head with a metal baseball bat, and the two started to struggle.
Molly then hit her husband with a brick paver left on the nightstand.
Defense attorneys said the two acted in self-defense.
They were convicted of second-degree murder in 2017 and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Then, in 2021, that conviction was overturned because of errors in the case. They were resentenced in November 2023, reaching plea deals for voluntary manslaughter.
Molly and Tom Martens were sentenced to at least four years but got credit for time served.
Molly was at a prison in Raleigh. Her father was at a prison in Lenoir.
Molly’s attorney said that now that she is out, she will focus on finishing her college education.
Statement from Jason Corbett's family:
Statement from Douglas Kingsberry, Molly Corbett's attorney:
I had a chance to sit down with her and talk about things. And surprisingly, her overwhelming emotions right now are relief and thankfulness. And I'm like, thankfulness?
And she said, yeah, first of all, I'm thankful to be alive because there are many women who are in abusive relationships who aren't so fortunate. And she's never forgotten that, and she's thankful for that.
And she's also so thankful and appreciative for those five brave women who came to her hearing and told the court about the physical and emotional abuse that they witnessed, and thankful and appreciative. She reminded me of the Department of Social Services workers and the people at the Child Advocacy Center that were able to record and preserve the testimony of the two children about the physical and emotional abuse that they observed.
And then lastly, and this caught me off guard, she said... I'm thankful for our legal system. You might remember there was an original trial where she was found guilty, but eventually the legal system realized that was not a fair trial.
Evidence was denied. She had her new case reopened. And at that time, we had a court system that allowed her to enter a plea to a reduced charge and then to present the full story, which she was able to do.
And thankfully, she said the judge, after hearing all that, ruled that a sentence in the mitigated range was appropriate. So, she's appreciative of all of that. And that surprised me that those were her first thoughts.
Previous coverage of the trial and sentencing:
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