After years of back and forth with attorneys, a major pivot has occurred in a high-profile murder case in the Piedmont Triad that made international headlines. Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens appeared in court Monday morning in Davidson County and accepted a plea deal.

Corbett and Martens, who are daughter and father, were convicted of killing the woman's husband and will not get a new trial after reaching a plea deal.

Molly Corbett, the wife of Jason Corbett, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter, and her father, Thomas Marten, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, but the more serious charge of second-degree murder was dropped. A new trial was scheduled to begin next week in Forsyth County, but with this plea arrangement, that won't be necessary.

In 2021, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Molly Corbett and Martens should get a new trial in the murder of Molly’s husband, Jason Corbett. In 2015, Jason Corbett was found beaten to death at his home on Panther Creek Court in Davidson County. Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens claimed it was self-defense.

Both were convicted in Davidson County Court for second-degree murder in 2017. The case first made national and international news because Jason Corbett was an Irish businessman.