DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A hearing that would determine whether or not a father and daughter convicted of murder could be re-tried has been continued.

According to the Winston-Salem Journal, the hearing had been scheduled for Monday in Davidson Superior Court, but District Attorney Garry Frank said that the trial of Molly Corbett, now 38, and Thomas Martens, now 72, has been continued.

A date for a new hearing has not been yet been scheduled.

What is this case about?

On Aug. 2, 2015, prosecutors allege that Molly Corbett and her father Thomas Marten beat Molly’s husband, Jason Corbett, to death with a paving brick and a baseball bat.

During the case, both of them argued self-defense, saying that Jason Corbett had strangled Molly. Martens has said that he beat Jason in a “life-and-death struggle.”

The original trial

They pleaded not guilty and filed a motion to have the trial moved out of Davidson County, but it was denied and the trial moved forward.

Despite giving statements to the Dragonfly House Children’s Advocacy Center in Mocksville and the Union County Department of Social Services about Jason Corbett abusing Molly, Jack and Sarah Corbett, children from Jason’s previous marriage, did not testify and their testimony was not used.

In 2016, the executor of Jason Corbett’s estate alleged that Molly Corbett unlawfully took items from the Corbetts’ Wallburg home, despite a court order stating she could only take her own personal items.

They were both found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison in 2017.

Overturned conviction

In 2020, the NC Court of Appeals overturned the second-degree murder convictions. The convictions were overturned, in part, because Judge David Lee excluded the statements the children made during the initial trial.

Prosecutors have argued that Jack and Sarah recanted their statements about abuse.

In 2021, the Supreme Court upheld the court’s decision, stating that the committed testimony impacted the initial trial. The case will be re-tried.

Jason Corbett’s family, who primarily live in Ireland, have been outspoken leading up to the trial. Jason Corbett’s sister wrote a book, “My Brother Jason.”

In the book, his sister states her belief that Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens committed premeditated murder. She believes that the two should have been charged with first-degree murder.

Corbett and Martens were last in court on Mar. 11, but it was continued then as well as the prosecution and defense could determine when the case would go to trial.