Jason Corbett /// Part 2 /// 392 | Forensic Files

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to all of our episodes for free and that is enough of the business all right everybody gather around grab a chair
grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] crime [Music] at the time of Jason's death Sarah was
eight and Jack was only 10 years old now Molly was the only mother in their lives
since the death of their biological mom Sarah was 3 months old and Jack was two when their biom mom passed away now the
kids remained with Molly while the courts figured out who should get them Molly initiated custody proceedings to
formally adopt both children but Jason's Will Made for other arrangements handing
legal guardianship over to his sister Tracy Lynch and her husband David notably Jason's will was written prior
to his marriage to Molly but you have the will and the facts are the kids were born in Ireland and were not US citizens
and Molly was not their biological mother in response to the custody dispute custody hearings were held the
Corbett side of the family started a Facebook page called bring Jack and Sarah home to call attention to what
they considered an in Justice the kids stayed with Molly despite their father having mysteriously been killed in her
presence there were allegations that Jason had not desired that his wife adopt his children that looked to be
accurate according to the reports anyway court papers revealed that Corbett never
consented for his second wife Molly to formally adopt the children during the custody proceedings the court heard that
in the Autumn of 2014 Molly spoke to her attorney about her rights to the children possibly in
the case of a divorce looks like Molly wanted the kids and for some reason Jason did not want
her to adopt them eventually Sarah and Jack were returned to Ireland in the custody of David and Tracy
Lynch after the kids were sent away Molly moved back in with her parents parents in Knoxville she enrolled in
interior design classes and got back into swimming however on January 4th of 2016 it was announced that a grand jury
had indicted Molly and her father Tom Martins on charges of second degree murder and voluntary
manslaughter Tom was allowed to turn himself in but Molly was arrested and cuffed the two were released on
$200,000 Bond and order to surrender their passports and not have any contact with Jason's
family they both entered not guilty please at the end of January 2016 Molly was required to appear in court again to
respond to a summons requiring her to explain why she had removed personal items from the couple's home in
violation of a consent order per that order Molly was not not to sell or remove any quote tangible personal
property end quote the court issued a temporary restraining order preventing Molly from continuing to remove property
while they sorted out what was going on what had Molly removed from the house well according to court documents
everything except Jason's clothing and the kid stuff and items brought over by Jason from Ireland in the course of this
inquiry it was revealed that in April of 2011 Jason Corbett transferred a very large sum of money reports VAR somewhere
between $50,000 and maybe upwards of $880,000 M to Molly's parents this was supposedly for wedding
expenses the Court ruled that Molly had to return all of the items that she took
because there was a quote high probability that that the money transferred from Jason to the Martins
was the source of the funds that paid for the items that she eventually took the funds from a life insurance policy
on Jason which amounted to $600,000 as well as money from the sale of Jason's car were to be held in escrow
pending probate proceedings and what is going to be a criminal trial but before we get into the criminal trial David
Lynch brother law of Jason an executor of his will filed a wrongful death suit alleging that Molly and her father
intentionally willfully and maliciously assaulted Jason on August 2nd 2015 and so but just to be clear this insurance
money Molly would receive yes she is to that's that's my understanding and she sold his car so
this has to sit in escrow until they determine where this money should go where's the
appropriate place for it to go because if she killed him she doesn't get the insurance money right so we know that
she wanted custody of the children but if this is premeditation there's not guarantee that
you're going to get custody of the children but it's guaranteed that you're going to receive this large sum of money
$600,000 mhm and whatever assets he might have at the time the house cars things like that
but part of this wrongful death suit also includes Sharon Molly's mother and Tom's wife who never faced any criminal
charges in this case but the wrongful death suit claims that she assisted aided and abetted in the defendants and
killing of Jason Corbett and in the concealment and destruction of evidence related to Jason's death finally we have
the criminal trial which was was set for July 2017 and I want to see the trial evidence because we are only getting
such a small piece of the pie to this point from both law enforcement and the two suspects and if the authorities have
more well then it's going to be at the trial when we learn what real evidence they have right at the commencement of
the trial the prosecution informed the court that it was dropping the voluntary manslaughter charge and intended to
pursue only the second degree murder charge which required a showing that the crime was committed with
malice the prosecutors appeared confident that they could make the more serious charges
stick rmation of the trial comes mainly from the extensive coverage in the West Salem Journal now during opening
arguments the assistant district attorney told the jury 6ot tall 260 lb Jason Corbett was beaten to death in a
brutal bludgeoning attack by his wife and her father and that the killing was deliberate and possibly motivated by
money Molly and her father were represented by two separate attorneys working in tandem Tom's attorney spoke
first he said that Tom had acted in defense of his daughter after seeing her you know she's about half Jason's size
being violently choked and threatened by her husband telling the jury quote he was not only defending his daughter he
was defending himself next Molly's attorney told the jury that the investigators missed
several pieces of evidence that would show that Molly and Tom were telling the truth he said that they never collected
or tested the long blonde hair that was found in Jason's hand if they had it would have shown that he was violently
gripping her Molly had a bloody mark on her neck that was not tested either this
must be that little red dot further Blood on the bottoms of Jason's feet indicated that he continued to move
around even after the blows began countering the prosecution suggestion that Jason had been whed why prone the
picture being painted by the prosecution as the defense says was not accurate right well what the what they're trying
to say is well one of the theories is by investigators is that she actually hit Jason in his
sleep and that's why there would be a lot of blood on the pillow now the pictures I have seen I have not seen
this blood so pillow I see some blood splatter on the bed and a little bit of blood splatter on the pillow so they're
saying that she went in there either there was an argument or he was asleep and she said you know what I'm going to
take this concrete block and smack him on the head with it and then you get smacked with a concrete block well now
fights on well we state that the defense is saying that the narrative put forth by the prosecution is just unaccurate
you kind of know what that's going to be what that narrative will be but let's let's hit some of the highlights real
quick here one that Molly and Jason's marriage was in trouble with Jason making plans to return to Ireland
without his wife he had not allowed her to adopt his children MH Jason was found
naked and blood spattered but there were no evident injuries to either of the defendants
they both refused medical treatment at the scene that night there was blood covering the walls of the master bedroom
hallway bathroom and both sides of the door to the room Jason Corbett was killed by multiple blows to the Head
including two devastating blows to the back of the the head and at least one blow that was delivered when he was
already deceased his skull quote was like a hardboiled egg that had been dropped on the counter end quote the
murder weapons were a Paving stone and a metal bat that had been wielded by both
defendants which were covered in blood hair and brain matter blood spatters indicate that Jason was subjected to a
stained series of blows with blood spray patterns indicating that he was at one point near the ground when his head was
struck they say quote that leaves us with why why didn't they stop and quote Yeah but okay one we do have Molly
stating that during this struggle her father goes to the ground and that Jason's on the ground and she strikes
Jason before or he could then strike her father so we have that and then it's possibility at the end of the struggle
he is on the ground and possibly getting up and then he's hit again and I also think that there could be certain things
that maybe they're not being 100% truthful oh he started moving or he's shaking on the ground and so we hit him
again so I I don't think that just because there was extra hits that that is not a sign of self-defense so we have
the defense is going to argue look they don't argue that Molly and Tom didn't kill Jason right rather as you just said
self-defense they said that Tom and and Sharon Martins made a last minute decision to visit their daughter and her
family on that Saturday because they had not seen the kids in quite some time in
several months Jack was at that nighttime birthday party that went super late remember he's not picked up till
like 11:00 and that's why Tom says Hey the bat that we brought to give to Jack we
didn't give it to him that night because he got home so late Tom says that he was
awakened by screams now this is a little different than the story we heard before
but this is what we're going to hear at trial this is when it seems to me to be the most important and when he heard the
screams he armed himself with the bat so that he could fend off anyone attacking
the family upstairs and found Jason choking Molly at that time he says that he told him to stop but Jason continued
to choke and the fight ensued to which Tom says he lost his glasses and then he lost control of the
bat after Jason roughly pushed him Tom was able to regain control of the bat and he hit Jason until he released Molly
and then he says that's when he started CPR are the witness testimony phase of the trial commenced the state's first
witness was Karen caps the 911 operator who had taken Tom's call she gave much of her testimony on the record but
outside the presence of the jury because much of it was opinion and speculative she told the court of the 911 caller's
surprisingly calm demeanor she also said that she was surprised that Tom wasn't out of breath from administering CPR
since this life-saving Aid is very taxing MH she said that the female which we know to be Molly in the background
was yelling her compression counts out so loudly it was clear she was trying to be heard attempting to save the victim
the jury was permitted to hear the 911 call but again not much of Karen Cap's testimony because it was so much of her
just opinion rather than fact well what's your opinion of of his demeanor on the 911 call it's difficult it's
difficult to decipher we talk about this so many times where it's like how is someone supposed to react you said
yesterday when we were talking about it that he sounds defeated I had not thought of it that way and I can agree
with that he does sound very matter of fact to me and and in fact I took um well you got to sprinkle something else
into his character this is not a this is not a attack uh you know where we have U
husband finding their their wife attacked or or or something like that we have a a former FBI agent that has
probably been in more difficult situations than this having to make the call yeah I don't know what situations
he's been in I couldn't imagine one more difficult than this beating a man to death with a bat you you're right I I
can get get behind the he sounds defeated well I just mean that if you have to make this call and you're your
law enforcement that you know that it's not going to do you any good to be panicking corre I'm saying yeah yeah
your spot on there and then the other thing you can throw into that mix not only does he sound possibly defeated he
could also sound tired like maybe that's why he comes off as sounding so calm because one trying to calm himself to
deliver the appropriate information and on top of that he's tired from this this fight that broke
out right physically exhausted but then here here's then if the Suspicious Mind where I run to
is did she want her retired FBI father there as kind of proof positive the the uh proof is in the pudding
type statement of well if this man who spent so much time as an FBI agent who's still working for the government with
top secret uh clearance MH if he sees a situation assesses the situation and determines then and there that this is
an act of self-defense is that going to is that going to Echo throughout the whole investigation is it going to you
know you know what I mean is that is that the almost like the FBI putting a stamp on this was self-defense so don't
question it I think initially that's why they didn't have them come back several
times when you're investigating this and you go okay well it could could be self-defense and we don't have any
markings on them so let's just bring them in 24 hours later and let's again investigate their persons investigate
their body take more pictures do it again another 24 hours later but yeah is this could this be premeditation
where she knows that that this investigation could be painted with a certain uh rose petal glasses you know
of the FBI right and then we have this is this is where we need somebody to come on the blog and educate us a bit
because we talked about the the toxicology report we have this statement this is
from Sergeant Barry alen he is one of the Davidson County EMS workers big shout out to the EMS workers out there
thank you for everything he said that he found Jason to be cold to the touch and
with dried blood on his body the cold to the touch is the thing I want some education on because one
thing that we stated right Captain was that the the 911 call was a almost 15 minutes long and I'm imagining a few
minutes took place between the end of the fight and when the call was placed how quickly is this man going to start
to feel cool to the touch well he has no clothes on so how right that's going to
speed things up and also what is the temperature of the house it's a cool 32 de you know what I mean like no I'm
serious though it's no I know I'm I'm I'm just being an ass um here's the here's the gross part is and this is a
statement from his dong was just his tesy the the EMS worker says that when he placed his hands on Jason's head you
know he's trying to move him when he placed his hands on his head it's here's a direct quote I put my hand under the
scalp my left hand went all into the skull and that that's just affirmation of the of how badly the the wounds and
the the the destruction to the skull was now EMS workers remember we had at least
four at the scene that we are aware of from the newspaper reports EMS workers testified how they found the two
children sleeping on the second floor and told the children to close their eyes as They Carried Jason from the
house the medical examiner Dr Craig Nelson testified that Jason was hit at least 12 times like we said but the
damage was so extensive that the exact number of blows could not be determined he said that when he took the scalp off
the head for examination chunks of skull fell out onto the examining table he testified that Jason was hit in in at
least 10 different places on his body including his torso his hands and his knees several of the wounds were quote
complex lacerations meaning that he was struck in the same spot more than once autopsy photos were shown causing one of
the jurors to throw up in a trash can Dr Nelson went on to say that the talk screen run on Jason showed that he had
traces of trazadone in his system this was a powerful sleep aid prescribed to Molly on July 30th just 3 days before
Jason's death Jason was not known to suffer from any sleep issues the prosecution hinted that perhaps Molly
had attempted to drug Jason and actually implied that Molly had put the tesone into a moito that Jason drank a former
Davidson County Deputy who responded to the scene testified about his observations said that he escorted Molly
to his patrol car and stayed with her he said Molly appeared upset testifying that quote she was making crying noises
but I didn't see any visible tears now speaking of forensic evidence all forensic analyst with the State Crime
Lab served as state Witnesses and they testified that both the bat and the concrete paving brick were covered in
blood hair and Jason Corbett's DNA was found on both of the items this makes sense obviously uh Molly and Tom
admitted hitting Jason with both of these items although we go back to Molly's written statement only commed to
attempting to hit Jason with it mhm 12 hairs belonging to Jason Corbett were found this was taken from the concrete
paving brick the pictures I saw Captain showed the brick just covered in blood and hair well like I was saying to you I
think off record was this brick is going to be it's going to have um some pores to it so it's going to soak up blood
differently than the bat would right now one of the Final witness wies for the prosecution was the blood spatter expert
his name is Stuart James who was introduced as a specialist in blood stain pattern analysis he testified that
dents were visible low down on the wall of the master bedroom where Jason died he said that these dents indicate that
Jason was beaten at one point while he was close to the ground or on the ground and a pattern of blood spatter low on
the wall suggests that Jason was struck more than than once while he was falling
to the ground James also testified that dried blood spatter on the inside leg area of Tom's boxer shorts and on the
bottom of Molly's pajama pants suggests that the two were above and over Jason Corbett's head as he was being struck
James said a vacuum cleaner was sitting upright at the West Wall of the master bedroom as seen in the crime scene
photos the one that I was talking about he he said there were blood spatters behind the vacuum and a pattern of blood
spatter flowing from side to side on the vacuum cleaner he says quote it tells me
that the vacuum cleaner was on its side when the blood was deposited on the vacuum cleaner and it was long enough
for it to dry it shows an alteration in the scene prior to these photos being taken end quote the implication was that
Molly and Tom had moved some things around in the room possibly staging the scene prior to calling
911 and we do know some of this timeline in rather great detail and so if they were to Stage
anything the staging has to go on prior to the 911 call or during the 911 call again much of that 911 call is them it
it's thought that they're administering CPR during that call but they could be pretending to do so and the reasons why
I state that we we know this that that that could be an option here is that we have the statements of the EMS workers
and the statements of police officers that say look they were on 911 for 14 minutes and 27 seconds on that call at
the end of the call we can hear EMS the first crew of two arriving and they are going into the master bedroom to which
you can hear Tom and Molly leaving the room as the 911 operator tells them let them
do their jobs when the police arrive within just like it's like 2 minutes later when the police arrive they find
the two of them that being Molly and Tom on the front porch so we have that little detail that part of the timeline
is is known to be fact it's known to be true because we have others to tell us uh what what took place back to the
blood guy he also pointed out that impact blood blood spatter on part of the bed and large blood stains were on
the bed skirting he said that this evidence suggested that Jason was first struck at or near the
bed also Sharon Martins Tom's wife and Molly's mother remained in the guest bedroom in the basement despite all of
this commotion and the kids seemingly remained asleep that's a that's kind of weird too in this and when we go through
the crime scene as well if there's this big fight going on upstairs Sharon didn't do anything yeah
this well yeah she didn't call 911 that's what I don't like cuz you would assume well my husband is in danger
because Jason's a bigger man but you don't call 911 the children don't wake up but also when you see a
picture of this house this is a large house and and um my uh former stepsons you could vacuum
in their room and they wouldn't wake up that might explain a way why the the kids didn't hear
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information all right cheers mates cheers to you a lot going on Cheers To Me cheers to we cheers to
everybody all across the land this case is really frustrating I mean a lot of them are but this one it's like what is
the truth because we do have things of evidence that that suggest the story that they're telling Tom and Molly what
they're telling is not true but there's so much of when Tom talks that I believe what he's saying
yeah the I was talking with somebody last week and they were saying hey I listen to your your case last week and
it was a it was a difficult one it was a tough one and I said yeah the the easy cases don't make it on the show right so
now Captain we have the time where the defense gets to fight back right the prosecution has rested its case the
defense is going to fight back for one thing they say while the that drug prescribed to Molly was in Jason's
system they did a good job of managing to create some doubt as to whether Jason could have been self medicating maybe
he's dipping into her pill bottle they produce records detailing multiple recent doctor visits and test the
physician's assistant who treated Jason observed signs of depression and Jason had been treated for a thyroid condition
and notes from the V from a visit just two weeks before Jason's death state that Jason said he this is his words
Jason said quote recently became angry for no reason defense lawyers had already decided that Molly would not
testify but in what can only be described as a gamble Tom Martins took the stand to testify in his own defense
it's likely that his lawyers were hoping that his pristine reputation as a decades long Lawman would have some Sway
With the jury well I like I said I I just find him to be believable I I will not disagree with that uh Tom said that
he woke up that night because he heard thumping loud thumping loud footfalls and heard screams and loud voices there
was an obvious disturbance going on above me he says I grabbed the bat ran upstairs and I heard that the noises
were coming from the master bedroom in front of me I would say seven or 8 feet in front of me Jason had his hands
around Molly's neck facing each other he says she was a little to the right he was a little to the left he said at
first Jason had his hands around Molly's throat but then as you described very well earlier now he's he's manipulated
that a bit and he's trying to drag her off to which Tom says he Jason is stating I'm going to kill her Tom's
saying let her go he's threatening again here's the thing that that's troubling with the whole Tom portion of this I
don't know if it's his calm demeanor his defeated demeanor whatever we want to call it or a combination of the both but
you're right it his delivery is believable his delivery of the story I don't want to get too much into the
words because that's where I have some questions about it but his delivery of the story feels to me like a guy like
I'm looking at a guy that's telling the truth well and even if they waited a little bit because this is a a a big
deal that just happened your son-in-law which you might have liked maybe he disliked don't know was choking your
daughter and then you and then you have to attack him you have to you know fight
you know and like he says at one point when you're in a fight it might go to death and you have to know that yeah
and again I think that's more of something that's coming from law enforcement or that his FBI background
whether you you might have disliked him but you have a guy that is dead and and by your hands and you you're the one
that has to call 911 so I I believe him more because they called 911 there's other things they
could have done to try to cover this up if it was premeditated well and he describes
emotion too in his recanting you know when he's trying to tell us what's going on that night you know he says Jason was
really angry I Tom was really scared and he does go on to say that he was worried that if Jason made it to
that bathroom like you pointed out in yesterday's show with his daughter and closed the
door there would be some real trouble that that he wouldn't be able to gain control of the situation or even save
his daughter right you know he goes on to say that I I hit Jason I hit him until he goes down and I I stepped away
I don't know how many times I hit him I hit him until I thought he could not kill me as I felt both of our lives were
in danger I did the best I could he did choke up while on the stand well again part of his story goes with what the
medical examiner is telling us he was hit multiple times so when he he he's not giving you a number he's not saying
well I whacked him he's telling you I whacked a few times when he was up mhm but when he was down I hit him so many
times that I knew he wouldn't be able to move how hard were those hits you know yeah yeah and under cross-examination
the prosecutors did try to suggest that Tom and Molly faked the CPR that they were giving to Jason a
closing arguments summed up both sides of the case for the jury prosecutors emphasized that Tom and Molly bludgeon
Jason with a metal bat and a concrete paving brick crushing his skull and continuing to hit him after he had
fallen and then had cooked up their taale of self-defense there were some courtroom Dramatics as described in the
Winston Salem journal assistant district attorney Alan Martin grabbed the 28 in Louisville Slugger bat and slammed it
over and over onto the prosecution's table in the courtroom with ever increasing
Force asking jurors to imagine that the table was Irish businessman's Jason Corbett's head every
slam to the table was described as a shock to the ear he also slammed the table with a concrete paving brick that
along with the bat prosecutors say killed Corbett Martin walked over to the defense table and pointed to Tom and
Molly and said quote they killed him he killed Jason with a bat and she killed him with that brick they literally beat
the skin off his skull with that bat in that brick in their closing arguments attorneys for the defendants said
prosecutors failed to provide any compelling evidence that disproves what Tom and Molly told investigators in
other words the prosecution had not met their burden of proving Beyond a reasonable doubt that Molly and Tom were
lying I mean again this is why it's so tricky because they're trying to say you killed this man and then their defense
is yeah yeah we we did told selfdefense we told you we did you we're we're not trying to cover that
up we we killed him how many times you hit him in the head I don't know I hit him until I thought he couldn't hurt me
or my daughter it it's very tricky they also pointed out the defense pointed out
that Jason had been verbally and physically abused Ive for years this in their closing arguments I don't I there
was tapes of this and I don't know if you heard some of the clips um but I don't think this was allowed to be heard
by the jury yeah I there were some of these tapes this was from when she look she's trying to gain some
kind of custody of these kids she's telling her attorneys that this man is abusive physically and verbally so they
tell her why don't you record some things when he doesn't know that you're recording him right so that
we can prove later if needed that that he is abusive be it verbally and or physically so yeah there were some there
was some tapes of this and some proof of that and we'll get into that in a bit but the the jury deliberated for less
than 4 hours before returning with a verdict the state of North Carolina vers Molly Martin Corbett and verse Thomas
Michael Martins both were found guilty of second degree murder as Molly was led out of the courtroom she said I'm sorry
Mom I wish he had killed me later when she was given the opportunity to speak before judge Lee sentenced her Molly
statements statement was quote I did not murder my husband my father did not murder my husband the events of August
2nd happened on a regular basis the difference is that my father was there yeah and there was also I believe a
statement from the son that was which I don't think they were again I don't think this was um either given to
defense or defense was able to use this but it was a statement saying that his father was verly and physically abusive
Judge David Lee sentenced Tom and Molly to 20 to 25 years in prison each the judge who had had reviewed the
psychological report on Molly submitted by the defense team stated that Molly should seek psychiatric help in prison
there was no real explanation to this part of the trial what my guess is because she had Molly had a past history
of some issues that maybe her defense team quietly submitted this to the judge for his review MH as a
possible I don't know as a as some kind of possible defense that wasn't presented to the jury now remember that
wrongful death civil suit that was filed against Molly and Tom this settlement was reached in March of
2019 it called for a payment to Sarah and Jack Corbett to the children in the amount of
$750,000 this gets a little complicated but I'm just going to simplify it Molly and Tom did not admit any liability as
part of the settlement they did not have to admit liability right and further Molly was dismissed from the lawsuit
after she filed documents renouncing her claim to Jason's life insurance money so
basically the life insurance money goes to the kids yep probably the sale of the
house goes to the kids any of the property sales goes to the kids yeah so not admitting any guilt but just
reallocating all that those funds taking herself out of it freeze her up from that there's a whole lot of legal
minutia involved in this and you were getting into it a bit there um one thing is the conflicting narratives that we
saw throughout this case at trial and before and even after basically you have the story told by Tom and Molly that
they they did all this in self-defense and the defense of his daughter and the defense of himself you know and that
ongoing part of that narrative is the abuse and the verbal abuse that took place for years as she said M then we
have the opposite side where we have the lynches who end up getting the kids and
the ones that filed the wrongful death suit that are saying completely the the opposite where Molly was this terrible
person and unbearable and you couldn't get along with her and she's spending large sums of money and Jason was Fed Up
and miserable right and he was planning on leaving her and taking the kids and going back to to Ireland we can you can
really get lost in all of that crap if you want to there's a whole lot of it to digest and a whole lot of it to go
through and try to figure out who's right and who's wron mhm I don't like to digest crap no nobody does and the thing
is I I just find I I want to know what you're what you think of all this well I find it too hard to believe that there's
such a big swing in the truth I think maybe the truth truth somewhere in the middle because like you said we have the
kids that do point out they they say man like they they said when they were interviewed by social workers shortly
after Jason's death saying yeah and they they called Molly mom so we'll just call
her mom yeah Mom uh dad would yell at mom would call her names would would I think they said slap her pull her hair
stomp on her feet yeah when you hear the the tapes I mean he's he's blowing up over the dumbest [ __ ] well we have his
words at his at his doctor visit where he's saying I'm becoming angry for no reason mhm then you have the reverse of
that where after the kids move back to Ireland and they are under the watchful eye of aunt and uncle MH that they're
saying ah I made up all of that abuse stuff that stuff didn't happen my dad was just you know he was miserable he
wanted to get out of there there was no abuse it it seemed seems to me the problem with both of these scenarios is
these kids were young enough 10 and8 that they could have been coached either way for for either one of these sit
Downs mhm yeah but you can't you can't fake the tapes no you cannot I mean you can manipulate the situation and you and
maybe you're not maybe there wasn't that many situations where Molly was trying to start an argument but maybe she did
you know I'll poke the bear poke the bear oh hit record you know right right that would be easy to do yeah so but but
what what what's your take on everything like do you think that this was premeditated or well I let's let's save
that portion for the conclusion because I think that's what we're going to be left with is is our opinions I do want
to get into some of this legal minutia a bit and I'm I'm really summarizing this
but I think it's stuff that needs to be covered one thing that was pointed out was that there was jury misconduct
allegations this came out just a week after the verdict from the criminal trial where
Molly's attorneys and Tom's attorneys filed a motion asking the judge to set aside the jury verdict alleging jury
misconduct the defense motion asked the judge to order a new trial or at the very least to hold an evidentiary
hearing into this misconduct issue and without getting into it too much I'll give my opinion on this there was
jury misconduct at this trial because what we will learn is through social media posts and through interviews that
the jurors did right after the trial they were saying things that were not presented at the trial but were
presented in the media so against the judge's orders they were paying attention to outside sources not just
what they were hearing at the trial right and so that is jury misconduct there's no way getting around that so
they're not supposed to be talking or listening to outside sources which we have proof that they did and they
weren't supposed to be discussing issues with one another which they did there's
there's proof of that as well so it's weird because despite all this evidence that the jurors were being influenced by
outside sources the the judge did deny the defense's jury misconduct motion and stated that there would be no new trial
it's a weird situation Captain because I don't know how much it actually I that I
actually think that it influenced their verdict it it happened but I don't know that it actually influenced their
verdict right I agree with that because the outside sources that was obvious that they were listening to were all
those news magazine shows that we talked about 2020 48 hours so on and so forth all of those outside sources seem to
present a pretty 5050 argument in my opinion right it they weren't they weren't structured like some
documentaries to sway you one way or the other it was pretty straight down the middle in my opinion there were there
ended up being some appeals there was a three judge panel that heard arguments that the clients Molly and Tom did not
receive a fair trial uh they maintained that the state did not prove Beyond a reasonable doubt that Molly and Tom
acted in self-defense or had not acted in self-defense and they pointed out that certain evidence that was left
out of the trial it should have been disclosed to the jury and some of that was statements that you said like like
the the recordings and the possible statements from the children that were given to social workers shortly after
Jason's death the appell court found that the state prosecutors did fail to present any evidence to contradict Tom's
version of events and the fact that Tom and Molly had no visible injuries was not significant again the jury
misconduct was dismissed but unfortunately even through all of these appeals and everything that was going on
with all of this legal jumble you know whole messed up thing unfortunately for Tom and Molly the appellant Court's
decision was split 2 to one the split decision means that the state has grounds to appeal the ruling and on
February 21st 2020 State prosecutors filed a petition with the new North Carolina Supreme Court asking it to
impose a temporary stay on the new trial pending their filing of a notice of appeal expected this in the next couple
of months so it will be interesting to see what happens with all of this we have the
Winston Salem Journal saying it could take more than a year before the North Carolina Supreme Court rules on whether
or not a new trial will occur mhm if a new trial does happen it will be very interesting to see whether the outcome
is different I personally you keep asking me of my opinion I wasn't trying to put you off Captain
but it's my birthday answer my damn question right right well here we go I I personally think that
the that the outcome won't be different I think that a new trial will be a waste
of time I do disagree with the court I do think that there was jury misconduct but again I don't know how much that
will change the verdict MH if we want it to be nice and clean and tidy then we should have a new trial but again I
don't know that the verdict will come out any differently I actually believe I truly feel like murder in the second
degree for both Tom and Molly is not only the most appropriate charge but very likely the correct charge to me I
feel like the blood evidence found in the master bedroom on the walls on the baseboards on both sides of the door on
the door jam on the Rock and on the bat and as seen in the crime scene photos paints and almost perfect picture to me
the problem with this case and we see this in a lot of other cases too and I don't I don't understand why this this
happens again it not only the the swing the broad swing in the truth between what was actually going on in the house
before the death was Jason abusive was he verbally abusive how how terrible was this living situation or was Jason
miserable and wanted to leave and take his kids and Molly was this horrible person that's a that's a big swing I
think the truth is somewhere in the middle I think that that he probably was somewhat abusive I think it could you
know verbally and possibly physically as well I also think that Molly could have
been a miserable person to live with I also think that Jason could be in the process of leaving her well I mean
there's some speculation that his first wife's death was because of his abuse that seems like hogwash to me well
no because somebody that has asthmatic symptoms if you were choked uh and and Molly is claiming that
she was choked multiple times and he would choke her and Shaker that's very that could cause
asthmatic attack yeah I to me I that's reminisent of the Michael Peterson situation and I don't see the same
situation here I think it's it's coincidental one the a big difference between the two is his first wife is
dead and now he is dead where Michael Peterson both of his wives died under the same mysterious ious
circumstances right so I I mean that's interesting to ponder and anybody that that believes that
that's a possibility I'm not not coming after that I I just really don't want to
touch it because I don't think that there's enough to suggest that that could be the case the the thing that I
have a problem with is that there's such a big difference between the two narratives of what was actually going on
in the family in the family Dynamic the truth is probably somewhere in the middle and then I have to take that a
step further and wonder if that's the same thing with Jason's death was this not 100% premeditated planned out
cold-blooded murder in the way that we often think of it right and was this not 100% self-defense or the defense of
another but somewhere in that horrible violent gray area between is the truth sitting in there
and that's why I think the second degree murder charges are the most appropriate
I don't see evidence that you can clearly sell to a jury that this was 100% premeditated I also question things that
we see at the crime scene and the blood spatter evidence and things within that bedroom that make me not fully believe
the self-defense angle of it either mhm what's say you Mr Captain well I think uh I'm going to use a quote from uh the
famous one of the greatest men in history Forest Gump and say that maybe both is happening at the same time that
I believe so much of what Tom is saying what Molly's dad is saying about self-defense and also again I think some
of his they're B answers but I hit him until I didn't think he would hurt me or my daughter well that's not giving us
exact number so I don't think that goes against the medical examiners where I have a problem with this is Molly Molly
initially says that I did hit him with this concrete block we know that this block is covered in blood we know this
block was used as a weapon from everybody from Molly initially from Tom from the medical examiners to the
investigators where I question it's like you said with the door shut does she start by hitting
him does he get in her face and she goes that's it and she uses it then or is it
or is there a possibility and what her almost her original statements were was kind of once the fight was
done that she hid him with the brick because she was afraid that he was going to come back
too so I believe that Tom thought everything that they were doing was justified and that he was acting in
self-defense because I don't think Tom believes that he would kill a man if it wasn't in self-defense I just think
there was probably some actions either beforehand or after or maybe even during that Molly is not being truthful about
and so I I think it can be both at the same time but then then you almost have to
give them separate trials so to me yes it's second degree murder when it comes to
Molly I believe it's self-defense when it comes to Tom that's interesting that's very interesting because that's
one one thought that that I was thinking along the way too is there a chance that
this is premeditated on Molly's behalf but by the time Tom is witnessing the scene that she is in fact being choked
but maybe she's being choked by Jason defending himself right because he get was whacked in the head with a brick and
now he's so angry or so and been hit that he's does say I'm going to kill her and Tom sees the hands on the throat and
goes after him and so could you have a situation here where she planned this thing out manipulated this thing because
I I have a very hard time believing look I understand you're going to paint this
this Garden brick this paver brick and you brought it into the house for that purpose keeping it on your nightstand
does not seem like a logical place to put it that doesn't Pro again just like everything else I've pointed out in this
episodes does not prove anything but it is suspicious so do you have a situation
where she's she has already administered an attack on Jason Tom hears this attack and by the
time he sees the scene Jason's hands are on her throat he goes after Jason with the bat well a lot and again
investigators say that she hit him when he was laying down I just don't see the evidence but again we don't have every
angle and every picture that they have they didn't release them all if there is a blood soaked pillow that they claim
that there is well then then he probably was hit in the head while he was laying
down and that's a bit of a mystery to us because out of all the photos we've seen
and there's a there's a plethora of them we did not see I did not see the the pillow would you say there was a
plethora that's right uh I will I will post as many they are graphic but I'll post those on
our Instagram at True Crime garage they're graphic but they're important and here's the other thing captain that
I that I really wonder about and when we try to decipher we're we're really dissecting
Molly's statements and Tom's statements and trying to figure out which ones are truthful and which ones are
fabricated to me I think the most truthful statement that came out of either of them came from Tom when he
tells the 911 operator I may have killed him right the reason why I feel it like
that one is the most truthful statement from either of them I wonder if that's exactly how Tom
feels does he not know for certain if he killed Jason or if Molly did [Music] all right I want to thank everybody for
joining us here in the garage do we have any recommended reading this week yes we
do Captain this week we are recommending the lost family how DNA testing is upending who we are this is by Libby
Copeland this is fascinating it's a fascinating read it's something that we all should take a look at we have so
many cases that are being solved these days by DNA testing just a little knowledge here for you you don't have to
write that title down right now you can go to our website truecrime garage.com and we will have the lost family there
for you as well as plenty of other recommendations when you're at the website sign up on the mailing list
because as the people know on the mailing list they just save 20% in the store just for being a part of the True
Crime garage Army and until next week be good be kind and don't [Music] litter [Applause]
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Jason Corbett /// Part 2 /// 392

Part 2 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/) In the middle of the night an emergency call comes in. The caller says he has injured his son in law while defending his daughter. The caller goes on to say “I may have killed him.” Now investigators need to determine was this self-defense or murder? Beer of the Week - Snozzberry by Green Man Brewery Garage Grade - 4 out of 5 bottle caps Thank you to this week’s sponsors! www.LightStream.com/TCG (http://www.lightstream.com/TCG) - Get a special interest rate discount and save on a credit card consolidation loan from LightStream! The full archive of True Crime Garage is available on the Stitcher listening app - for FREE. Our show “Off the Record” is only on Stitcher Premium. For a FREE month of listening go to http://stitcherpremium.com/truecrimegarage and use promo code GARAGE

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Brief Summary

Molly and Tom Martins were convicted of second-degree murder in the brutal killing of Jason Corbett amid a custody battle over his children.

Key points

Molly's Custody Battle. Molly initiated custody proceedings to adopt Jason's children, but his will had other plans.
Molly Indicted for Murder. Molly and her father were indicted on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Trial Developments. The prosecution dropped the voluntary manslaughter charge, focusing on second-degree murder.
Brutal Murder Details. Jason Corbett was killed by multiple blows to the head, indicating a violent struggle.
911 Call Insights. The calm demeanor of the 911 caller raised questions about the events that transpired.
Prosecution's Dramatic Closing. The prosecutor uses a bat to emphasize the brutality of the crime.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's good to be seen and good to see you.

2:00WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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