A US woman and her father have pleaded not guilty to killing her husband, Limerick man Jason Corbett, at their North Carolina home last August.
Molly Martens Corbett, 32, and her 65-year old father, retired FBI agent Thomas Martens, both appeared before the Davidson County Superior Court today for their first administrative hearing since their arrest last month.
The pair, who are currently on bail, are facing charges of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in relation to the death of the 39-year-old Irishman.
Assistant District Attorney Greg Brown told the court that he hoped to prosecute the case this year.
He also said there were a number of aggravating factors, including that the offence "was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel".
Judge Mark Klass granted permission to the prosecution to access Mr Martens' personnel record from the FBI in addition to a number of records from social services.
The court heard there are approximately 5,000 pages of documents involved with the case.
Local police responded to the Corbett’s residence in North Carolina just after 3am on 2 August.
Deputy C S Dagenhardt wrote in a report that while Deputy D Dillard was en route to an assault at 160 Panther Creek Court, the Davidson County 911 Center advised that the caller had been in an argument with his son-in-law and struck him with a baseball bat.
Police arrived at the address and found a man inside the home with head injuries.
According to the autopsy report Mr Corbett died from blunt trauma from a baseball bat and landscaping stone.
The medical examiner stated in the report that Mr Martens apparently struck Mr Corbett in the head numerous times with a bat and a landscape-type rock.
Thomas and Sharon Martens were visiting from their home in Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the search warrant.
They were staying in the guest bedroom and Mr Martens is reported to have been awoken by an argument between his daughter and son-in-law.
According to the application for the search warrant, he went to the master bedroom and intervened with the use of an aluminum baseball bat, striking his son-in-law in the head.
In a 911 recording, Mr Martens claimed his son-in-law got into a fight with his daughter.
The next administrative hearing is scheduled for the week of 4 April.
