A father and daughter could be facing up to 17 years in jail after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Limerick man Jason Corbett in the US.
The father-of-two was beaten to death at his home in North Carolina in 2015.
Yesterday, his wife Molly Martens and her father Tom pleaded guilty to Class D Manslaughter as part of a plea deal.
They had previously been convicted of Second Degree Murder in 2017 but that was quashed by the state's Supreme Court, and they were due to face a retrial.
A series of witnesses will be called over the next two weeks before sentencing is imposed.
They could face more than to 17 years behind bars if the judge deems there are aggravating factors - the prosecution is arguing the fact that Mr. Corbett's two kids were in the house when he was killed is one.
Ralph Riegel, the Irish Independent's Southern Correspondent, who's in North Carolina, says the Corbett Family were in court yesterday but didn't make any comment;
"We're expecting that there probably will be comments from both the Martens and Corbett families once the sentence is actually imposed...but certainly there was a large attendance from both families.
"There were a number of members of the Martens family and their supporters in court, as well as extended members of the Corbett family and that included Mr. Corbett's sister, Tracy Corbett Lynch, who's very much spearheaded the campaign for justice for her brother."
