If you've been following the saga of the Corbett case, you know it's a mess. Honestly, it’s one of those true crime stories that feels like it has a hundred different endings. People keep asking the same thing: is Molly Corbett in jail right now?
The short answer is no. She isn't.
Molly Corbett and her father, Thomas Martens, were released from prison on June 6, 2024. They walked out of separate North Carolina correctional facilities after serving the final portion of a sentence that had been whittled down by years of legal maneuvering, overturned convictions, and a last-minute plea deal.
If you're looking for her today, in early 2026, she's likely living a relatively quiet life in Tennessee. But the road to that freedom was anything but quiet. It was brutal, loud, and incredibly divisive for everyone involved.
The Night Everything Changed in Wallburg
To understand why she’s out, you have to look at what happened in that master bedroom back in August 2015. Wallburg, North Carolina, isn't exactly a hotbed for international homicide news, but this case put it on the map.
Jason Corbett, an Irish businessman, was found dead. He hadn't just died; he’d been beaten with a baseball bat and a brick paver. It was a gruesome scene. Molly and her father, Tom—a former FBI agent, no less—never denied they killed him. Their defense was simple: self-defense. They claimed Jason was choking Molly and they had to use lethal force to save her life.
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The state didn't buy it. Not even a little bit. Prosecutors pointed to the lack of injuries on Molly and Tom, the sheer level of violence used against Jason, and the presence of a sedative, Trazodone, in Jason's system—a drug he wasn't prescribed, but Molly was.
From Murder Convictions to Manslaughter
In 2017, a jury found them both guilty of second-degree murder. They were shipped off to prison with sentences of 20 to 25 years. At that point, it seemed like the book was closed.
But then the North Carolina Supreme Court stepped in. In 2021, they overturned the convictions. Why? Because they felt the trial judge had excluded critical evidence—specifically, statements from Jason’s children, Jack and Sarah, who had initially told social workers their father was abusive.
This led to a massive legal "reset." Instead of going through the trauma of a second full-blown trial, both sides took a deal in October 2023.
- Molly Corbett pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter.
- Thomas Martens pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
A judge sentenced them to a minimum of 51 months. Because they’d already served 44 months before their convictions were overturned, they only had about seven months left to go. That’s why they were able to walk free in the summer of 2024.
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Life After Prison and "A Deadly American Marriage"
Since her release, Molly has been trying to reclaim her narrative. You might have seen her recently in the Netflix documentary A Deadly American Marriage, which hit screens in May 2025.
In the documentary, she’s very vocal. She maintains she didn't commit a crime and talks about her desire for people to hear "her side." She’s currently 41 years old and, according to various reports, moved back to the Knoxville, Tennessee area to be near family.
She's been spotted out and about—even at Dollywood—but she’s living under a cloud of strict legal boundaries. For one, she is under a court order to have no contact with Jack and Sarah Corbett.
The kids, who are now young adults, have long since recanted those early statements about their father being abusive. They’ve moved back to Ireland to live with Jason’s sister, Tracey Corbett Lynch, and they have been incredibly vocal about their disdain for Molly and Tom. To them, justice wasn't served; it was sidestepped.
The Reality of Post-Release Supervision
Even though she’s "free," Molly hasn't been completely off the hook. After her release in 2024, she was placed on 12 months of post-release supervision.
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Because she moved to Tennessee, this was handled via an "interstate compact." Basically, Tennessee's Department of Corrections supervised her on behalf of North Carolina. This period involved:
- Regular check-ins with a parole officer.
- Travel restrictions.
- Maintaining a permanent address.
- The "no contact" order regarding the Corbett children.
By mid-2025, that formal supervision period ended. As we sit here in 2026, Molly Corbett is a private citizen with no active prison sentence or parole requirements holding her back.
What to Keep in Mind Moving Forward
The case of Molly Corbett is a prime example of how the legal system isn't always about a clear "yes" or "no" on guilt. It's often about what evidence a jury is allowed to see.
If you are following this case for updates, watch for these specific things:
- Civil Litigation: While the criminal case is technically over, civil suits can sometimes linger for years, though most of the estate issues were settled early on.
- Media Appearances: With the Netflix documentary out, there may be more "tell-all" interviews, though these often stir up more controversy than they resolve.
- Legislative Changes: This case has often been cited in discussions about "self-defense" laws and how domestic abuse evidence is handled in North Carolina courts.
Basically, Molly Corbett is out of jail and living in the community. Whether you believe her story of survival or the prosecution's story of a brutal killing, the legal chapter of her incarceration has officially closed.
Actionable Next Steps:
If you want to dive deeper into the evidentiary disputes that got the original conviction overturned, you can read the full North Carolina Supreme Court opinion in State v. Corbett (2021). It provides the technical legal breakdown of why the first trial was deemed unfair. For a more personal perspective on the victims, Tracey Corbett Lynch’s book My Brother Jason offers the family's side of the 9-year battle for justice.