Here’s Whether Thomas Martens is Still in Jail For ‘Brutally’ Murdering Jason Corbett With His Daughter Molly
A Deadly American Marriage is another Netflix documentary that explores a highly publicized murder that got a lot of attention in the media. In 2015, Jason Corbett was murdered, beaten to death with a brick and a baseball bat at his home in North Carolina. His wife, Molly Martens, and her dad, Thomas Martens, were charged with his murder. Sounds like a pretty open and shut case? But questions about the motivation have always lingered.
“Jason lost his life in a brutal killing,” filmmakers Jessica Burgess and Jenny Popplewell said to Netflix. “It was not long after he had moved from Ireland to America to build a new life for himself and his family — what should have been the ‘American Dream’ went so tragically wrong for everyone.”
Was it calculated? Was it an act of self-defense from a woman who had been abused? A Deadly American Marriage tries to answer these questions by interviewing many of the people directly involved in what happened. And if you remember hearing about the case or are considering the documentary, one of the most commonly asked questions is about Molly Martens and her dad, Thomas. What happened to them? Were they convicted? And, is Thomas Martens still in jail for the murder of Jason Corbett?
Is Thomas Martens Still in Jail For Jason Corbett’s Murder?
No, Thomas Martens was released from jail in June 2024. His daughter Molly Martens was similarly released from jail in June 2024. The two are both featured in the A Deadly American Marriage documentary. From the beginning, both Molly and Thomas Martens insisted that they acted in self-defense after Corbett allegedly started choking Molly and threatening to kill her.
In 2016, the two were charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter, to which they pleaded not guilty. They were both convicted and sentenced to 20 to 25 years, respectively, but the conviction was reversed on appeal. In 2023, the two agreed to plea deals of Class D manslaughter charges and were both sentenced to 51 to 74 months in prison. They were given credit for the more than three-and-a-half years they had already served, so the two ended up serving only an additional seven months behind bars.
The documentary features interviews with both Molly and Thomas Martens as well as Jason’s children, sister, and brother-in-law, in an attempt to offer “divergent perspectives of those directly impacted by his killing”. Neither of the children has any relationship with Molly Martens in 2025, and they both expressed their anger at her in the documentary, accusing her of manipulating them and lying about their father’s murder.
Jason’s sister and her husband, who are the legal guardians of his children, said in a statement that they participated in the documentary in an attempt to highlight the issues with the legal system. “Participating in the Netflix documentary was important to us because it highlights the profound impact of the absence of justice we faced in the judicial system,” they said on Facebook. “We are not alone in our experiences. We hope the documentary honours Jason’s memory while advocating for justice and ensuring that the voices of victims are heard, especially when the judicial system has failed them.” Thomas Martens and his daughter Molly, of course, tell a different story—and they also get to tell their side during the documentary.
“This case demonstrates how complex the American justice system is,” filmmakers Burgess and Popplewell also told Tudum. “Where is the truth? Where are the lies? Where is justice? This documentary demonstrates that it’s not clear-cut.”
