THE FATHER and daughter who killed Irishman Jason Corbett have been returned to jail following the conclusion of a sentencing hearing.
Molly Martens Corbett and her father Tom Martens were sentenced to 51 to 74 months by Superior Court judge David Hall for the manslaughter of Martens Corbett's husband.
Having already served 44 months in prison following their original convictions, it means the pair will spend a further spell of between seven and 30 months behind bars.
Mr Corbett died after he was beaten to death in his North Carolina home in 2015.
Martens Corbett — Mr Corbett's second wife — and her father always maintained they had acted in self-defence.
The pair were originally found guilty of second-degree murder in 2017 and sentenced to between 20 and 25 years.
However, their convictions were quashed in 2020 and a retrial ordered.
Before it could get underway, Martens last week pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with his daughter pleading no contest to the same charge, in return for the prosecution dropping murder charges.
Molly Martens Corbett and her father Thomas MartensAccording to the Winston-Salem Journal, prosecutor Alan Martin claimed in his closing argument on Wednesday that Martens Corbett wanted custody of Mr Corbett's two children from his first marriage.
He claimed Martens Corbett provoked an argument with her husband on the night he died in the hope of securing a domestic violence order.
The assistant district attorney said Martens Corbett hoped this would give her custody of Mr Corbett's two children as she feared he was going to take them back to Ireland.
Martens Corbett's father was intended to be a witness to the supposed domestic violence incident but the situation escalated and resulted in Mr Corbett being killed.
The 39-year-old was beaten to death with a baseball bat and a paving brick.
The Winston-Salem Journal adds that Mr Corbett's children and other family members left the courtroom as defence lawyers for Martens Corbett and her father prepared to make their closing arguments.
According to RTÉ News, the defence team for former FBI agent Martens said he admitted killing Mr Corbett but that there were mitigating factors, claiming he witnessed his daughter being strangled by her husband.
Meanwhile, Martens Corbett reportedly accepted responsibility for what she did, adding, 'I am sorry'.
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