True Crime with Kendall Rae - Self Defense or Intentional Homicide? Former FBI Agent & His Daughter Kill Jason Corbett

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

Jason Corbett was a father of two young kids when his wife suddenly passed from an asthma attack. Looking for someone to help care for his kids, he came across Molly Corbett. His kids seemed to really take to Molly, and Jason had a connection with her as well. All seemed well until Molly and her father killed Jason in “self-defense.” Dateline episode: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/in-jasons-name-2/ Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Stitch Fix DoorDash - promo code: KENDALLRAE Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hello everyone and welcome back. I'm so happy to have you here with me today as we discuss yet another case. Now this one is very interesting and I feel that there will be some variations and opinions here and this is actually going to retrial here pretty soon the next couple months if all goes accordingly. So I want to start out here by telling you about Jason Corbett. So Jason was born February 12, 1976 in Limerick Ireland, his parents John and Rita. He was actually one of eight siblings and had a twin brother named Wayne. One of his sisters Tracey, who wrote my brother Jason, recalled that they never really felt poor when they were growing up, but looking back, she realized that they definitely struggled

to make ends meet. I mean, their parents did what they could to keep their children healthy and happy, but money was never that abundant. In fact, when their father lost his job at one point, Jason actually picked up a part-time security job at the school's sports center to help make a little extra cash for the family.

And Jason's work ethic is just one of the many reasons that his family and friends love him so much. Now among those who love Jason was a woman named Margaret Fitzpatrick, who also went by Max. Once Jason and Max met, it was clear to everyone around them that they were in it for the long haul. And eventually they got married. And by September of 2004, they were welcoming their first son into the world.

And his name was Jack. And then two years later, they had their second daughter, Sarah. And their family felt complete. All was right in the world for this young family of four. Jason and Mags were deeply in love. And they also had a deep love for their children. And things were really great at first until tragedy struck this family on November 21, 2006, which was only three months after their daughter was born. That night, mags woke up with a terrible yet familiar feeling. She knew exactly what was going on. She was having an asthma attack and this was something that she had experienced before. Normally, she would use her nebulizer, but

this time something was different and it wasn't working. So Jason immediately rushed her to the hospital, but sadly, she didn't even make it there. Max was only 31 years old when she passed from an asthma attack. And Jason was 30 at the time and devastated as you can imagine to lose his wife so suddenly so unexpectedly and now he's stuck raising his two children on his own and he was terrified and and just heartbroken his sister Tracy said that her and her husband got the call that they needed them to come to the hospital and Once they got there they knew right away what happened just by the look on Jason's face. Tracy recalls this moment in the book and talks about how that look on Jason's face told her so much that she knew right away that he felt like he lost his entire world. But Jason knew that he had two kids at home. He needed

to be strong for so he could not let this consume him. I can't imagine being in that position. Jason knew he needed to be there for them. And I think that really gave him purpose at times when he needed it the most. And thankfully his family and mags family really stepped up to offer his much support as they could. Based on what I've learned about Jason, it seemed like he was a very humble and self-sufficient kind of guy. And so he felt uncomfortable and bad for his family having to rely on them so much.

He didn't want to be a burden. Of course, they didn't feel like he was a burden, but at some point he decided to get outside help. So in 2007, he made the decision that he was going to hire an opair. So the first opair that he hired was a check girl, and then it didn't work out with her. So he hired a Spanish girl, and that didn't work out either. The problem really was the language barrier. Plus, both of these women didn't really have the intention of sticking around for a long time. And this was something that Jason was looking for.

He wanted whoever was going to be in his kids' lives to be there for a long time because he didn't want any more instability than they already had. So he decided that the best decision would be to hire someone who spoke English and someone who was looking for a long-term gig. So in early February of 2008, Jason gets an email from a 25-year-old named Molly Martens, who was interested in the job. In according to Tracy's book, Molly included many things on her resume that would turn out not to be true. For one, she claimed to have graduated from Clemson University, even though the reality was she dropped out of school. She also said that she had been vetted and approved to be a foster parent. That wasn't true either. Now, many say that Molly was the type of person who was

quick to lie, and she'd often get caught lying. She would tell these stories, and then she would tell another version of the stories that contradicted the first version, and even when she was called out for it, she would try to lie her way through it. But all of that, of course, wasn't known to Jason, so he felt like she would be the perfect fit to move to Ireland and take care of Jack and Sarah. Molly actually lived in Knoxville, Tennessee, and she first flew out to Ireland on March 10th, 2008, but it wasn't smooth sailing at first. When she landed and started going through customs, she was actually denied entry because she had only purchased a one-way ticket. Now, I'm not super familiar with how this all works,

but I guess immigration had an issue with not knowing how long she'd planned to stay and she didn't have the proper work visa, I guess. So she was actually put on the first flight back to the US. She did end up getting another flight, a round trip, immediately, and flew right back over. So it wasn't a big deal, but I just thought I'd mention. So once Molly arrived at the airport was granted entry

She was picked up by one of Jason's good friends. Now this woman said when she first saw Molly She immediately knew that This wasn't gonna be a good fit and her first thought was this is not what Jason needs right now She said that Molly was young, beautiful and dressed head to toe like she was running for Miss America. But the kids warmed up to her pretty fast and when it came to taking care of them, it seemed like things were going well. And the kids seemed to enjoy her, so Jason thought, all was good. Listen, people, I hate shopping for clothes. I don't have a good sense of fashion. I hate dressing rooms. I prefer to do all my shopping online and I don't like to have to search out my pieces.

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often as I can. So try StitchFix today at StitchFix.com slash Kendall Ray and you'll get 25% off when you keep everything in your fix. That's StitchFix.com slash Kendall Ray for 25% off today, StitchFix.com slash Kendall Ray for 25% off today, StitchFix.com slash Kendall Ray. And when it came to Molly and Jason, things picked up pretty fast and went in a different direction, a dating direction. And this hasn't been confirmed, but it's been said by many that they actually got together that first night she arrived. But before I get into her relationship with Jason, it's important that I also tell you about Keith, Molly's American boyfriend. In the years leading up to leaving for Ireland, Molly was in a relationship with a man named Keith, and according to him, the two of them didn't even break up when

she left for this job. He said that Molly had been really struggling with her mental health and had been recently released from the psych ward around the time that she was first talking to Jason about becoming his O'Pare. Keith has said that he didn't feel like Molly was in the right headspace to travel to a different country and take care of children, especially children who just lost their mother. He also says that Molly told him that she wasn't going

to be there long, which is weird, because she told Jason the opposite that she had the intention of being their opair for a long time. But anyway, after two weeks of being there, she tells Keith that she's never coming back. And he was very hurt. He felt like he had supported her through some really difficult times, and it was kind of a slap in the face. That she gets up, moves to a different country, then tells him that she's never coming back. And apparently at this point,

she completely shut him out of her life. And he was pretty shocked by this. I mean, they were still dating when she left. So crazy turn of events. But anyway, let's get back to her relationship with Jason. Now, I think it goes without saying that it's pretty problematic to be dating your O'Pare, especially one that lives with you who you've just met. And Jason knew

that the situation wasn't ideal, but it seemed to be going well for quite some time. And Molly was growing extremely close to the kids. And on the outside, you know, it seemed like everything was working out. But looking back, Tracy, his sister says that there were some red flags that she didn't notice at the time. For starters, Molly didn't seem to be very transparent about her life back in America. She never really seemed to want to answer anyone's questions, or tell anyone about what life was like back at home. And maybe this was because she left it's still in a relationship, or maybe it was because she'd never disclosed the truth about her past

She also seemed to take issue with Jason's best friend Paul and I know it's totally normal to not jive with all of your significant others friends But looking back Tracy feels that she was trying to distance Jason from those he was closest with But again, this is something that Tracy has realized looking back at the situation after the aftermath of what happened. For the most part, though, most people in Jason's life were happy for him. They seemed to like Molly and they, you know, felt like the situation was a little iffy, but they were happy to see Jason happy. But their honeymoon phase didn't seem to last for long because emails have come out between the two of them that show that some issues had arisen.

Just a few months after Molly had arrived in Ireland, Jason actually sent her home so that she could have some time with her family, and this was just temporary. But this is when they were communicating via email. And in these emails, Jason starts expressing concerns to her that things were moving too quickly between them. At this point, it had only been two years since his wife had passed, and he wasn't even sure if he wanted to get married again. And this seemed to have upset her because she had some not so nice things to say back. And Jason and her ended up coming to the agreement

that they could continue to date, but he would feel more comfortable if she moved out when she got back to Ireland and got a different job, which makes sense. Now she agreed to do this, but it never ended up actually happening. Instead, Molly continued living with them, and then eventually made it clear that she didn't want to live in the same house that mags had once lived in and made her uncomfortable,

but she still wanted them all to live together. At one point she even said that she felt like she was, quote, living in her shadow. So after a lot of convincing, Jason agreed and he sold their home on the third anniversary of mag's death. And actually, it's interesting to know, but when the paperwork came in on that day, he told his sister that it was clearly a bad sign, but he moved forward anyway. And then on Valentine's Day, 2010, Jason ended up proposing to Molly. I mean, he did love her, and most importantly, the kids seem to love her. And that was huge

for him. So they get engaged. Everyone's happy. But after some time, Molly decides that she's too homesick to stay in Ireland. And so she wants Jason and his kids to all move back to America with her. And Tracy says that she gave Jason an ultimatum. She said that either they moved to America with her or they stay in Ireland and the two of them break up. But by this point, Jason was happy. He felt like his kids would really miss Molly, and so he decided it was best for them all to move to America with her. And it also happened to be an easy transition for Jason to move his job overseas. So that's exactly what he did. So Jason, Molly, Jack, and Sarah, all moved to Winston, Salem, North Carolina, where Jason bought them a beautiful

five-bedroom three-bath home. And then the two of them got married on June 4, 2011, at the Bleak House in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Molly was originally from. Her father Tom walked her down the aisle, and Jack and Sarah even got to be in the wedding and acted as the ring bearer and flower girl. And when you look at these photos, it looked like a pretty magical happy day for everyone, but Tracy's book tells a much, much different story. I won't go into everything that Tracy says that Molly did in the book, but there are a few things that I wanted to note. For one, she told all the bridesmaids that she was friends with mags before she died of cancer. So two things were wrong with this, right? One, she didn't even meet Jason until 2006, so she definitely never met mags.

And two, she did not die of cancer. She died from an asthma attack. So just weird all around. Then during the wedding, she threw an absolute fit because Jason's nephew was eating McDonald's during the wedding. And this was because he had a food allergy. He couldn't eat anything else there. So someone ran out and got the kid McDonald's. And this pissed her off. Send her over the edge for some reason. There were so many instances at the wedding where Molly was found crying or throwing a fit, despite the fact that it was a beautiful wedding that I'm sure was not cheap and everyone was

supporting her. So in the next several years after they got married, Jason's kids started to call Molly Mom, and the four of them continued their lives in North Carolina. Molly was actually working part-time as a swim instructor, but spent the majority of her time at home with the kids, while Jason worked as a full-time manager at a packaging plant. The two of them made a lot of friends in their community. People really seemed to like them, especially Jason. People were very drawn to Jason. He was kind and friendly to all the neighbors.

He was often seen outside, having a beer, talking with neighbors, you know, had the kids outside. He seemed to be, you know, living the dream. But they definitely had some points of contention in their relationship. And one of the biggest ones is that Molly wanted to adopt the children and Jason did not want her to do this. Now, he didn't say no because he wanted to be mean. He said no because he started to have doubts about their relationship. In her book, Tracy says that Jason was starting to really consider divorcing Molly and bringing the kids back to Ireland. He told her that things had gotten

really bad between the two of them and he was even hiding the kids' passports because he thought maybe Molly would somehow try to get rid of them. And of course, only the two of them really know what was going on in their relationship. And Molly actually did some things that allow us to have a bit of a better understanding. And what I'm about to share paints Jason in a completely different light than what his family and friends have shared about him. Jason was not perfect by any means, and I want to be clear that I do not think he was a perfect person or husband, and that is very clear after you hear a recording that Molly had taken during one of their arguments. She was actually advised to do this by an attorney. She had been speaking

to an attorney about what her rights would be as a parent if Shan Jason never got divorced, even though the kids weren't technically hers. These recordings, if they proved that Jason was a bad parent or violent in any way, would help her gain custody in the event that they split up. She ended up putting recording devices all over their home to try to catch Jason in one of his fits.

And she definitely got a few things on tape that do not make Jason look good. And I'm not able to play these recordings for you because of copyright issues, of course. So if you want to hear them, they are available in the 48 hours episode on this case. So I will have that linked below. Okay guys. So I'm actually recording this a little bit a few days after I recorded the episode and I've been thinking about it. And even though I can't play you the tape, I wanted to try and explain it to you the best I can because I know it's kind of a pain for you to go

and watch the date line and some of you don't have access to it. And I didn't want this part to be super confusing. It really bothers me that companies like CBS can own things like this. I really think they should be public domain. But I'm going to do my best to just read you the transcript and give you an idea of what was said. So this recording was while they were eating dinner. So she says, are you finished with your dinner, hun?

And then he responds and says, I'm talking to you. Is this how you treat? This is what? You just ignore me? I said I'd like to have dinner with my family. I'm talking to you. I shouldn't have to say it over and over. I shouldn't have to say Molly.

And then Molly interrupts and she says, can you guys get out the stuff for pancakes? And he goes, see? You're, there you go again. I'm talking to you. You're still going on about something else. And then you can hear Sarah say, stop fighting. It's really hard to convey the tone that Jason is using. So if you're able Sarah say, stop fighting. It's really hard to convey the tone that Jason is using. So if you're able to listen to the 48 hours

episode, I think that would really help you get a better idea. And it's timestamped 2037 to 2058. Molly has now made claims that Jason was a violent man in their relationship. She never reported this to police and she never told anyone in her life. Of course, staying silent is common in relationships that involve domestic violence. So that is not shocking. However, there is a lot that is unclear here. And there's just a lot that we don't know. I mean, the fear of retaliation can be debilitating. There are many reasons that someone will choose to stay silent. However, it's been heavily debated whether Molly's claims are true or not. And because we don't have enough information, I certainly don't want to speculate any further.

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arguments other than the two of them. And the only one that is here to speak now is Molly. Molly's family will say that Jason was a terrible, controlling, violent man and Jason's family said that these are all lies that Molly and her family have made up to justify what she did. So the only right thing for me to do in this situation is tell you both sides and you can come to your own conclusion. But that brings us to the night of August 1st and the early morning hours of August 2nd, 2015. That evening Molly's parents Tom and Sharon showed up

to their home in North Carolina. The exact purpose of this visit has definitely been questioned by some, some will say that Molly and her father planned for him to be around that night. While others say it was just a typical visit that went terribly wrong. So they arrived at 8.30 pm just in time for a late dinner. And the only person who wasn't there was Jack. And he returned home later that evening. But Tom and Sharon had gifts for both of the kids.

But because it was getting so late, they decided they would give them to them the falling morning. And this is important. They actually got Jack a baseball bat and Sarah a tennis racket. So when it was time for them to go to sleep, Tom and Sharon went to the guest bedroom in the basement and Jason and Molly went to their bedroom on the first floor. And both kids were sleeping in their rooms on the second floor.

Now, according to Molly, she was woken up at 3 a.m. by Sarah, who came into their room after she had a bad dream. Molly claims to have taken Sarah back to her room, got her resettled in bed, but by the time she came back to her room, she says that Jason was awake and was extremely angry. Apparently, he was super upset that he had been woken up in the middle of the night and this led to a fight. And Molly says that this fight is what led to Jason's death. So not long after this alleged fight began, Tom, Molly's father, who I should mention, is a former FBI agent claims he heard some sounds coming from upstairs. He thought these sounds were strange and he was concerned, so he ends up grabbing the bat that he was gonna be giving Jack the following day and goes upstairs.

This is when Tom says that he opened the master bedroom door and found Jason with his hands around Molly's neck. Tom says that as soon as Jason saw him, he turned around to face him, put Molly in a chokehold, and then dragged her to the bathroom and said, I'm going to kill her. He then claims to have begged Jason to let her go, but it was clear that that wasn't going to happen. So that's when he made the decision to grab the bat and go after Jason. According to statements that Tom gave later, the first blows with the bat did absolutely nothing to Jason and he was still choking Molly. So he kept hitting and hitting and hitting. At one point he said that Jason let go of Molly so that he could grab the bat and start trying to pull it away from Tom.

And so the two of them begin the struggle over the bat. Tom even said that during this struggle at one point, Jason pushed him and Tom ended up the struggle over the bat. Tom even said that during this struggle at one point Jason pushed him and Tom ended up face first on the ground. According to their story, Molly is free at this point and she starts yelling, don't hurt my dad.

And at this point, Jason gets complete control of the bat and she's worried that he's going to then come after her dad with the bat and possibly kill him. So according to her story, this is when she picks up a brick that just happens to be sitting on her bedside table and goes after Jason. At this point, somehow Tom gets a hold of the bat

and he starts striking Jason. So they are just taking turns striking him, Tom with the bat and Molly with the brick. And they kept going until they deemed that Jason was no longer a threat. And they were clear that they stopped hitting him as soon as he went down. Now, if it weren't abundantly clear, this is their version of events. I got in a fight with my daughter. I intervened. And I think I'm at least in bad shape. Leave me tell. Leave me no over.

I'm gonna kill this. But after 911 was called and EMS arrived, it was clear to them that this scene seemed to tell a much more violent story than just self-defense. One first responder actually described it as overkill. And just a warning, this next part is pretty graphic, but one first responder said that when he went to pick up Jason's head that his fingers went right through his skull and he was touching his brain matter. That's how badly his skull had been smashed in. I mean, they said they only hit him long enough to determine that he was no longer a threat,

but his skull was literally caved in, and it was the back of his skull, meaning he wasn't facing them while this attack was taking place. As for the scene, there was a significant amount of blood on the walls and the floor of the bedroom as well. There are many images of the crime scene, and I think it's important to see some of them so you can see how brutal this attack was, but I'm definitely not comfortable showing you too many because it's a lot. And it's important to know that some of the first responders had noticed that the blood on Jason's body was already starting to dry and so was the blood on the brick. He was also naked and cold to the touch,

suggesting that his death wasn't that recent. Now, luckily, the kids that slept through the entire thing and they were removed from the home by officers. And when all the commotion in the house was taking place, Molly was escorted to a patrol car where she waited for about an hour before she could be evaluated by paramedics. And when they approached her, one officer said that she was making crying noises, but he didn't see any tears. She was also continuously rubbing her neck and throat area and explained that she was in pain because Jason had choked her. But besides one tiny red mark on her throat, Molly had no other injuries. And Tom didn't either for that matter, even though he claimed that he and Jason had fought over the bat during their struggle. Both of

them were brought into the station to give their official statements, and they were both extensively photographed. So Molly gave her statement, basically everything I just said, that she and her father killed Jason in self-defense because he was attacking her. She claimed that Jason had been heavily drinking all day, which is an important thing to remember, and that he was angry after being woken up by his daughter. Molly said she couldn't remember anything clearly after first hitting Jason with the brick, but was adamant that everything that they did was in self-defense. She explained how she had been the victim of abuse in their relationship for years, and

how she was worried that telling someone would mean losing custody of the kids. Now, police have said that during their investigation, they found no indication that Molly was ever physically abused during her relationship with Jason. However, it's possible she was. This is just what they are saying. They found no evidence.

And when you listen to those audio recordings, it's clear that Jason definitely had a temper, but police don't seem to think he was ever violent with her. Now Tom statement aligned with what his daughter had to say, and he also mentioned that Jason had been heavily drinking that evening. He also mentioned that Jason was a widower and that his first wife died under mysterious circumstances,

which is absolutely not true and really a disgusting statement for Tom DeHepsaid. Mags died of an asthma attack that was confirmed by doctors. There is no room for debating that. So Tracy talks about finding out that her brother died in her book and she said that she was just in complete shock. And she actually says that he was days away from bringing his children back to Ireland and leaving Molly behind.

And that Molly actually knew that. Could that be a possible motive? All of this did not sit right with Tracy. So she immediately flew over to the US. When she arrived, she sat down with a detective and she told them that she did not think Molly was being truthful about her story and they agreed. And it turns out they were already planning a full investigation. So by August 3rd, 24 hours after Jason died, a full

autopsy was done. And no surprise here, it was determined that Jason's cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Jason had multiple lacerations, abrasions, and contusions to his head, extensive skull fractures, and more. The damage was so bad, in fact, that the medical examiner couldn't confidently determine how many times he had been struck, but it was apparent that he had been hit at least one time post-mortem. The report was gruesome, And then the toxicology report came back and was shocking. Despite Molly claiming that Jason had been drinking all day, his blood alcohol content came back at a mere 0.02%. And as a 250 pound adult male, there was no way that he was drunk

when he allegedly attacked Molly. But what was really surprising that he was drunk when he allegedly attacked Molly. But what was really surprising is there was Trasidone in his system. For those who don't know, Trasidone is an antidepressant medication. However, it can also be used for its tranquilizing effects. And what do you know? Molly had been prescribed Trasidone just a few days before Jason's death. And Jason had to hold a doctor just a few days before he died that he was suddenly feeling angry for no reason at all. Now this is not confirmed, but Jason's family believes that this was because Molly was spiking him with medication.

Now I'm sure many of you are wondering what happened with Jack and Sarah during this time. Well, both kids actually stayed with Molly's brother temporarily, but on August 3rd, while the autopsy was being performed, they were each brought in to speak to a social worker. The hope was that they would come in and shed some light on this toxic marriage that Molly had claimed have been experiencing.

And the thing is, they do exactly that. Both Jack and Sarah tell the social worker that they saw their dad hurt their mom. Remember, they call Molly Mom. They talked about how he would get angry all the time and completely confirmed all of Molly's accusations. This made things way more complicated for investigators because now they have two witnesses

claiming to have seen the abuse that Molly was experiencing, which made the idea of him attacking her much more possible. And another big thing that came out of the interview with Jack was about that brick that was sitting on Molly's bedside table. Now any sane person would think there's no way Molly just happened to have a brick sitting next to her bed. And detectives thought it was weird too, but according to Molly's statement, which was confirmed in Jackson Review, she and the kids had been planning on painting this brick and putting it outside of their home. This was apparently supposed to just be a fun art project and Molly had brought

the brick inside because it had been raining recently. And I'm really curious to hear what you guys think about this because a lot of people have questioned why the brick was on her bedside table. Of course, she could have brought the brick inside and put it somewhere in the house, but why was it on the bedside table? I don't know. Some people think it's weird. Some people don't. So not long after all of this, I'm talking the same week, Molly filed papers for custody and guardianship over Jack and Sarah. And she actually says that Tracy had attempted to kidnap the kids, which gave her temporary custody. The whole kidnapping thing is a very confusing point in all of this.

We're not exactly sure what she meant by that or what really happened. But anyway, there was a hearing held for what would happen to the kids. And in the end, they were given to Tracy and her husband, which is exactly what Jason had outlined in his will. But one thing's for sure, tensions between Molly and her family and Jason's family were very high. In fact, she wouldn't even allow them to come to his memorial service, and she even hired security in case any of them tried to show up. Her and Tracy also had a huge argument about what would happen to Jason's body. Molly wanted him cremated as quickly as possible,

and Tracy wanted to bring his body back to Ireland. Molly ended up agreeing to this, only if Tracy agreed to pay for all of his funeral costs, and she did. So Jason's body was brought back to Ireland. And for a while, Jason's family was very worried that Tom and Molly would not be held accountable for what they believed that they did, but eventually they were arrested. On December 18, 2015, a grand jury indicted them for second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. And of course, both Tom and Molly pleaded not guilty,

and their joint trial was scheduled for July 17, 2017. And between their arrest and the start of the trial, Molly gave an interview to ABC where she backed up her story that her relationship was abusive and that she was truly innocent. But by this point, Jack and Sarah had both recanted their original statements. They said that their

dad was not abusive and that they were coerced in to lying, which really complicated things. However, neither of these statements were considered admissible, so neither the prosecution or defense could benefit from the children's statements. As for the trial itself, both the prosecution and defense were equipped with what they believed were strong arguments. The state utilized forensic evidence, including crime scene photos, testimony from first responders and officers, as well as medical evidence to prove

that Jason Corbett was brutally murdered. And they even called in a blood stain pattern analyst to testify, who stated that the trajectory of the blood spatter did not match with them hitting Jason as he stood up. He claimed that Jason was defenseless on the ground as he was repeatedly attacked. Of course, the defense tried very hard to get his testimony thrown out, but they were unsuccessful. The prosecution ultimately pointed to Jason's $600,000 life insurance policy,

and the fact that he wouldn't let Molly formally adopt the kids as a motive for this crime. Of course, as for the defense, they painted Jason as a horrible, violent, abusive husband, and they relied heavily on Tom's testimony. I mean, as a former FBI agent, I'm guessing their hope was that the jury would see him as an honest man. Now Molly never took the stand in her own defense, which was probably a smart move. The trial went on until August 9th, and then after only three hours of deliberation, the jury came back with a guilty verdict, and they were each sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison. You saw tears, do it tears. I even had a few tears there while the verdicts were being ran through.

You feel bad for everybody involved. Whether it's the defendants or the deceased family. But we have a job to do, we had to do it. And I believe that we got it the best way we could. If you saw those photos, that's not just a whack to the head with the bat, that was a severe, severe beating. For one of the defendants, we didn't have any question as far as their participation. That was an easier vote. The other defendant we had to discuss, but I have to go on over some more of the evidence and discussing it, the clothing and proximity to the attack.

We felt that she was, she could have gotten out of that situation, but she chose to stay. It may have started itself defense, but at some point it went from self-defense to mass-gun. Only a week later though, they were appealing their convictions saying that there was juror misconduct literally only minutes after the trial wrapped up. One juror was talking to a member of the press and had insinuated that they had talked about the case outside of the courtroom, which is a major no-no. And it wasn't just that. There are appeal actually

included a variety of things that they felt was wrong, including jurors talking about the trial on Facebook the day after it wrapped up. The fact that Jack and Sarah's statements were excluded from the testimony. And more, at first the motion was denied in December of 2017, but then they appealed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina and one in early 2021. And after winning, both Tom and Molly were released on a $200,000 bond. Well tonight Molly Corbett and

her father Tom Martins are free on bail. The father, daughter, pair left the Davidson County jail just an hour apart earlier this evening. The two were convicted of second degree murder in 2017 for the death of Molly's husband Jason Corbett in

Davidson County in 2015. Last month, the North Carolina Supreme Court tossed out the conviction and ordered a new trial. After their release, there was some question over whether or not some

type of deal would be made. But Tom and Molly are actually sticking to their original not guilty please. And their retrial was actually supposed to happen last month in June of 2023. However, it was postponed to November 6th of this year. So this is coming up pretty soon here, and it's likely going to be a pretty high profile trial. So let me know if you guys are interested in some trial coverage. I am very curious to see how this will shake out. I know you guys are going to feel very split on this one. Before I wrap up today, I want to give you a little update on how Jack and Sarah are doing now.

They were only 10 and 8 years old when their father died and they're now young adults who are doing great things. They were adopted by their aunt Tracy and Uncle David and moved back to Ireland. And Sarah actually wrote a series of children's books to help kids feel less alone during times of extreme loss. Her first book is called Noodle loses Dad and is a story about loss and redemption. Approached us and asked us to write the book. And she had one of the arguments she'd used was like, you wrote a book. I was like, I'm dying.

That's true. Tracy wrote a book about her brother's life and death. And now Sarah has a book titled, Noodle loses Dad. Well, I'm Noodle. And I wanted to write my book because I wanted to help other children who might be going through difficult times, whether it's from divorce to blended families are losing someone that they love or moving. Sarah reads it to kids in schools back in her hometown of Limerick. It's a story that rhymes with Sarah's own life, which means there is sadness to the tale, just as Sarah and Tracy still have. Yeah, well, we have good days and bad days and what we do

on our bad days is we sit down, we talk about it and sometimes there's a little bit of a cry. But they work to focus on the good thing. Sarah says that she wants to inspire other kids who are going through a hard time to keep pushing forward and hopes that when she grows up, she will be able to bring attention to important matters that adults struggle to talk to children about, which I thought was so cool. Now Jack is a singer, songwriter, and an accomplished rugby player in Limerick. Both kids have not stopped advocating for justice for their father, and they will both be key witnesses for the prosecution in the upcoming trial.

So it will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out in the end. That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode, and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there. you