A woman and her father who were convicted of the murder of Irishman Jason Corbett in the US have won their appeal.
Molly Martens, who was married to the Limerick man, and her father Thomas Martens, were convicted of second-degree murder of the 39-year-old dad-of-two at his North Carolina home in August 2015.
The murder trial heard Mr Corbett was bludgeoned to death with a paving stone kept on Ms Marten’s night stand.
Martens and her father were sentenced to 20-25 years in prison but launched an appeal against their convictions, claiming they had not been given a fair trial.
Ms Martens first met Mr Corbett when she moved to Limerick from the US as his children’s nanny after his first wife died.
The pair married in 2011.
Today, the North Carolina Court of Appeal ruled that both defendants were entitled to a fresh trial, RTE reports.
The ruling read: "Due to a number of prejudicial errors apparent within the record, we reverse the judgments entered upon Defendants' convictions for second-degree murder and remand for a new trial."
"Having thoroughly reviewed the record and transcript, it is evident that this is the rare case in which certain evidentiary errors, alone and in the aggregate, were so prejudicial as to inhibit Defendants' ability to present a full and meaningful defence", it continued.
