Irish man Jason Corbett was killed in North Carolina in August 2015.
Molly Martens and her father Thomas Martens, who were found guilty of the 2015 manslaughter of Irish man Jason Corbett, are set to be released from prison today, Thursday, June 6 after completing the remainder of their sentence.
Molly Martens Corbett, 40, was incarcerated at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, while her father, Thomas Martens, 74, was incarcerated at Caldwell Correctional Center in North Carolina.
Molly was released just before 9 am on Thursday, while her father is set to be released later in the day.
Both Molly and Thomas will be subject to one year of post-release supervision by probation services. However, they will not be required to reside in the state of North Carolina, which has reciprocal probation monitoring arrangements with other US states.
The pair are now classed as convicted felons and are not allowed to reside at the same address.
Jason Corbett's family issued a statement to RTÉ News on Thursday reacting to the release.
"After a nine-year battle for justice, we are deeply disappointed by the impending release of Tom and Molly Martens," Corbett's family said.
The family accused Molly and Thomas Martens of the "senseless and brutal" killing of Jason Corbett, which left his children "orphaned."
"Jason was drugged and they beat him with a brick and a baseball bat while he was unable to defend himself. Molly and Tom Martens left the room without a mark on either of them.
"The heinous actions of Tom and Molly Martens not only took Jason's life in a malevolent, cruel, and vicious manner but they also set about to tarnish his reputation and use his children in a self-serving attempt to evade accountability."
The statement said: "Despite the gravity of their crime and the immense loss they inflicted, they will be freed today after serving just four years and three months."
They added: "We remain resolute in our pursuit of truth, justice, and the protection of Jason's cherished memory."
Molly Martens was Co Limerick native Jason Corbett's second wife; his first wife, with whom he has two children, Jack and Sarah, died after an asthma attack in 2006. Afterward, Jason hired Molly, a native of Tennessee, as an au pair in Ireland. The two began a relationship and got married in the US in 2011.
Molly and her father Tom claim they were acting in self-defense when they killed Jason Corbett in North Carolina on August 2, 2015. Tom said that he discovered Jason choking Molly and that he acted to save her life. However, their original trial heard testimony from police and paramedics who said that there was no evidence of strangulation on her body.
In August 2017, Molly and Tom were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 - 25 years in prison.
Molly and Tom appealed the original convictions on the basis that they did not get a fair trial because the judge had excluded evidence that would have supported their claims that they acted in self-defense. They said that evidence given by Corbett's children to social workers should have been included as evidence.
In February 2020, the North Carolina Court of Appeal ruled that both Molly and Tom were entitled to a retrial. The North Carolina Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeal's decision in January 2021.
In April 2021, Molly and Tom were granted a bond of $200k on the condition that they surrender their passports and do not contact the Corbett family.
The retrial had been scheduled to begin earlier in 2023 but was delayed until November. On October 31, however, it was announced that a plea deal arrangement had been agreed upon and that a retrial would not go ahead.
For the plea deal, Thomas pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of his son-in-law while his daughter Molly pleaded no contest to the voluntary manslaughter of her husband.
Judge David Hall told Thomas and Molly that in accepting the plea deal, both of them would be regarded as felons.
The more serious charge of second-degree murder against Molly and Thomas was dropped as part of the plea deal.
On November 8, the father and daughter were each sentenced to a minimum of four years and three months and a maximum of six years and two months behind bars.
However, they received credit for time already served - three years and eight months - leaving them with a minimum sentence of seven months and maximum of two years and six months remaining.
Following sentencing, Judge David Hall instructed that Molly Martens undergo psychiatric and psychological evaluation by prison medical authorities.