Surprisingly, a Miami-Dade judge decided to throw out key evidence in the case of Onlyfans model Courtney Clenney, much to the dismay of prosecutors.
Courtney has been charged with second-degree murder after being accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend, cryptocurrency trader Christian Obumseli, in April 2022 in their luxury Miami apartment.
Parents Kim and Deborah Clenney were also arrested for breaking into and stealing the victim’s computer, but were later released.
State attorneys were able to access Kim’s iCloud account, where they found messages showing the family working with defense attorneys to guess passwords to access the laptop.
But today, Judge Laura Cruz ruled in a two-paragraph opinion that state prosecutors had violated attorney-client privilege by accessing the Clenney family’s private conversations with their own attorneys.
Onlyfans model Courtney Clenney, 27, is accused of fatally stabbing her cryptocurrency trader boyfriend Christian Obumseli in April 2022 at their luxury Miami apartment.
‘The communication that the parties seek to exclude is protected by attorney-client privilege and/or work product privilege.
‘This privilege was violated, although perhaps unknowingly, when the prosecutors in this case read the communication.
“The appropriate remedy for this violation of privilege is to exclude the communication from use as evidence in this case,” Judge Cruz stated in court.
But while she ruled in favor of the defendants on this particular point, Judge Cruz did not dismiss the case and said she would go into detail about her decision during next Friday’s hearing.
Parents Kim and Deborah Clenney were also arrested for stealing the victim’s computer and breaking and entering, but were later released.
Jude Faccidomo, who represents the Clenneys, said after the decision: ‘Today, Judge Cruz granted our motion to exclude evidence, which means the state attorney’s office violated attorney-client privilege and that was illegal.
It is a fundamental principle of privacy that the State should never have violated. They entered the defense field.
‘All of this contaminates its processing. They targeted our clients Kim and Deborah, for no reason.
It is not yet clear whether the state will now drop the single charge of illegal access to Obumseli’s computer against the defendant and her parents.
Previously, in an interview with TMZ’s Harvey Levin, Kim and Deborah had discussed their daughter’s infamous case and said that if she hadn’t violently protected herself, she would have ultimately been the victim.
‘Even if this hadn’t happened, we would be talking about his funeral. It would have been the other way around, for sure,” Deborah said, referring to the day her daughter stabbed her boyfriend to death.
Clenney fatally stabbed Obumseli in the couple’s Miami apartment in April 2022.
Courtney, who used the name Courtney Tailor on platforms such as Instagram and Onlyfans, was arrested months after the stabbing.
Prosecutors have said it was the culmination of a “tempestuous and combative relationship” that began in November 2020.
Courtney admitted to killing Obumseli, but said she acted in self-defense. Her lawyer, Frank Prieto, claims Obumseli was regularly abusive.
The model previously told investigators that Obumseli had pushed her and thrown her to the ground, prompting her to grab a knife and throw it at Obumseli from about 10 feet away.
The blood-stained scene in Clenney and Obumseli’s apartment
But the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Obumseli said his wound could not have been caused by a knife thrown from that distance.
In April 2024, body camera footage emerged of Courtney covered in blood and pleading with paramedics to save him moments after the incident.
The new video showed the moment authorities entered the apartment and found the OnlyFans model cradling Obumseli crying “baby, baby, baby, wake up” and “no, no, no,” as police told her to get away .
She was covered in blood from head to toe, wearing soaked sweatpants, and said, “I can’t let this happen, it wasn’t me,” as police put her hands behind her back and handcuffed her.
Prosecutors have said his death was the culmination of a “tempestuous and combative relationship” that began in November 2020.
While speaking to police as paramedics tried to save Obumseli, she told them: “I’m terrified for him” and “I was very scared.”
“I’m covered in his blood because I was trying to save him… I need him, he was my other half,” Courtney said.
Along with this, a video of Courtney punching her boyfriend weeks before his death was made public earlier this year.
The footage, filmed by another person in the room, shows Clenney blaming Obumseli for “hindering his progress” and his sobriety.
She complains that he “flirts” with other women, doesn’t complete social media content for her, and tells him she’s “fed up.”
He is heard responding and telling her that he is “done.”
The couple had moved to Miami in early 2022 and staff and residents of the One Paraiso building, where they lived, reported multiple complaints of domestic disturbances about the couple and had even taken steps to evict them.