OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney, who’s charged with second-degree murder in the killing of boyfriend Christian Obumseli inside the couple’s luxury Edgewater apartment earlier this year, made her first appearance before a Miami-Dade County judge on Saturday.
Clenney was arrested in Hawaii earlier this month, and was booked into the Miami-Dade County jail on Friday after being extradited.
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While in court Saturday, Clenney’s attorney, Frank Prieto, asked Miami-Dade bond court Judge Jacqueline Woodward to reevaluate whether probable cause exists for the arrest warrant.
Prieto argued probable cause does not exist for second-degree murder, but perhaps exists for a manslaughter charge.
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“There's several misstatements indicating the government cherrypicked certain text messages,” said Prieto. “I have the full text message where they tried to indicate that the Mom was somehow insinuating to say self-defense, which is not true. The detective also indicated there's no signs of bruising that were consistent with Ms. Clenney. I was at the homicide unit and I have photographs of her bruising. So I think that pursuant to Franks vs. Delaware, Your Honor, can in fact reevaluate the probable cause if you excised those portions of the ever arrest affidavit.”
Assistant State Attorney, Khalil Quinan, pushed back against Prieto’s argument, saying bond court was not the proper venue for such a decision.
“First and foremost, a Franks hearing pertains to search warrants,” said Quinan. “Second of all, that's a scheduled hearing where it's an evidentiary hearing. Third of all, that would be before the trial court. Fourth of all, that's not what is pertinent at first appearance, in particular where another judge found probable cause. I can go on all day Judge. At this stage, it is inappropriate for a first appearance, judge, to be addressing these non-substantive matters on this proceeding. This is something that counsel should raise through a written motion before the trial court.”
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After hearing both arguments, Judge Woodward abstained from making a decision on whether probable cause for the arrest warrant existed.
“Ms. Clenney your attorneys are here, and they're fighting hard for you,” said Woodward. “But at this time, I'm not the judge who should be making these decisions. It should be a judge who knows a little bit more about your case. So we're not going to be making any other ruling other than just telling you that today you are here because you were arrested on a warrant, you at present charged with second-degree murder, and that you're going to go in front of your judge and have more of an in-depth conversation at that time.”
At this time, Clenney is being held without a bond.
Authorities said Clenney - who went by the name Courtney Tailor on social media including OnlyFans and Instagram, where she has more than 2 million followers - fatally stabbed Obumseli in the apartment they shared in the luxury One Paraiso condo building in Edgewater.
The couple, who had moved to South Florida from Texas in January 2022, had been "involved in an extremely tempestuous and combative relationship" since November 2020, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference earlier this month.
Fernandez Rundle said Obumseli had been a victim of domestic violence before Clenney fatally stabbed him.
But Clenney's attorney said she was the victim of abuse and said the stabbing was an act of self-defense.
Shortly after they moved in to One Paraiso, security and building staff began documenting several incidents of loud arguments between the couple, with other tenants complaining about the noises, including some two floors above them, Fernandez Rundle said.
Fernandez Rundle showed surveillance footage of the couple engaged in a violent encounter in the building's elevator on Feb. 21, about a month after they moved in.
"It certainly appears that the defendant was aggressively attacking Christian," Fernandez Rundle said.
But Prieto said the video doesn't depict the events leading up to what happened in the elevator.
"It is a shame that the State Attorney’s Office is seeking to win this case in the court of public opinion by showing an irrelevant and likely inadmissible video of Courtney in an elevator getting physical with Obumseli," his statement said.
Prieto said an initial investigation by Miami Police "uncovered an independent witness who saw Obumseli hitting Courtney in the head while he thought he was in the privacy of Courtney’s apartment."
The fighting came to an end the afternoon of April 3, when Clenney called 911 to report that Obumseli had been stabbed and needed help. He later died from his injury.
Fernandez Rundle said Clenney admitted to police to having caused the three-inch stab wound to Obumseli's chest, but gave inconsistent accounts about the incident.
Clenney told investigators that Obumseli shoved her against a wall by her neck, then threw her to the ground and when he allowed her to get up, she grabbed a knife from a kitchen, Fernandez Rundle said.
She said that as Obumseli started coming toward her, she threw the knife at him from about 10 feet, Fernandez Rundle said.
But the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner determined that the knife came at a downward angle, and said that throwing it wouldn't have caused the fatal wound, Fernandez Rundle said.
In his statement, Prieto said the medical examiner "has formulated conclusory opinions that will not stand up to scientific scrutiny," and said the arrest warrant "contains deceptive and incomplete statements."
Prieto said it's a self-defense case and a trial will prove it.
"Unfortunately, it appears that the prosecutors have taken 'the easy way out' by charging Courtney; effectively placing the decision to clear Courtney of these charges in the hands of the judge and jury," Prieto said. "We are confident she will be exonerated, and Courtney will be seen for what she is: a victim of domestic abuse that survived her abuser."
