Jason Corbett’s first wife may not have died of asthma attack, witness tells court

The sentencing hearing of Molly Martens and her father, Tom, heard claims that Jason Corbett's first wife may not have died from an asthma attack.

The father and daughter accepted a plea deal admitting to the manslaughter of the Limerick man in 2015, but say they acted in self-defence.

During this week's sentencing hearing in North Carolina, lawyers for Tom and Molly Martens said they killed Jason Corbett at his US home in 2015, but did so because he was abusive, they feared he had killed his first wife and would do the same to Molly.

A forensic pathologist, called to give evidence for the Prosecution, told the hearing on Thursday the cause-of-death finding by Irish authorities in the case of Mags Corbett who died in 2006 was "wrong", and she may have been the victim of homicide.

Both The Irish Independent and The Irish Times report Dr George Nichols, a former chief medical examiner in Kentucky, told the court that after reading a two-page report on the Irish post-mortem, in his opinion the Irish pathologists findings were "completely wrong".

Dr Nichols the court the manner of Mrs. Corbett's death was "undetermined".

During questioning by counsel for Ms Martens Corbett, Dr Nichols said Margaret Corbett “did not die from an asthma attack”.

Earlier this week, Molly Martens Corbett did not contest a charge of voluntary manslaughter in relation to the death of her husband Jason Corbett in August 2015. Her father, Thomas Martens, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

Jason Corbett, from Limerick, was found dead in his Davidson County home in the early hours of August 2nd, 2015.

The court is holding a hearing to determine the sentences they will receive.