A daughter of slain Limerick man Jason Corbett has said she is being “persecuted” following the revelation that the retrial over her father’s death in the US has been delayed again.
Jason Corbett, 39, a business executive was found with fatal head injuries at the home he shared in the US with his second wife, Molly Martens Corbett in Walburg, North Carolina on August 2, 2015.
Molly and her father Tom were convicted of the second-degree murder of the father-of-two at his North Carolina home in Panther Creek. The pair had pleaded they acted in self-defence.
READ MORE: Slain Irish dad Jason Corbett remembered in treasured pictures as Martens retrial looms
The 39-year-old and her 72-year-old father, a retired FBI agent, both served four years of 20 and 25 years for their respective convictions for second degree murder in their 2017 joint trial.
Their convictions were later overturned on appeal and there will now be a retrial in the case.
However, in a shock announcement on Tuesday night, a retrial which was to be held on June 26 in Forsyth County instead of the original venue of Davidson County also in North Carolina has now been delayed five months. It is now expected to go scheduled for November of this year. The delay is thought to have been caused for legal reasons.
Prosecutors had insisted that an impartial jury could be selected in Davidson County, a largely working class area where the Martens were convicted following a four week trial in 2017.
Defence lawyers argued the pair had been targeted by a hugely successful social media campaign over the killing of Mr Corbett which had “infected” the potential jury pool in Davidson County.
The court is expected to hear testimony of Mr Corbett’s children Jack,18 and Sarah,16, which is seen as key to the prosecution’s evidence.
In a twitter post Sarah Corbett Lynch, who now lives in Limerick with her aunt Tracey Corbett Lynch said: “I am 16-years-old. I am old and I am tired. I live under the shadow of the American justice system for 8 years.
“The perpetrators of my father’s killing walk free, I am imprisoned in the system. What did I do? Why am I persecuted?
“I was orphaned at eight years, I am living eight years under the North Carolina judicial system. Please give me back my little life. We only ask for a retrial to go ahead so my family can grieve and learn to live again.”
Ms Martens first met Mr Corbett, when she moved to Limerick from the US, as his children’s nanny. Mr Corbett’s first wife Mags died in 2006 following an asthma attack. She subsequently married Mr Corbett in 2011.
The company manager was bludgeoned to death with a paving stone kept on his wife’s night stand.
An aluminium youth baseball bat, that weighed less than half a kilo, was also used up to 12 times by Mr Martens, who claimed Mr Corbett had a stranglehold on his daughter Molly.
The bat was brought to the couple’s Panther Creek home in North Carolina by Mr Martens as a gift for his daughter’s step son Jack. Mr Corbett’s children were in the house at the time of his murder.
READ NEXT:
Garda killer Stephen Silver sentenced to life in prison for capital murder of Detective Colm Horkan
Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch looks almost unrecognisable out and about in Dublin after bombshell verdict
- Met Eireann predict sunny days before major change could bring back wintry weather
- 'Irish Bear Grylls' Dane Galligan on battling severe depression and anxiety
- Gordon Elliott sends three runners to Cheltenham for first day of April meeting
