Controversial evidence at center of OnlyFans model's murder trial. Will it be made public?

Milena Malaver, Miami Herald on Dec 19, 2024

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MIAMI — A Miami-Dade judge has delayed a key decision in the high-profile case of Courtney Clenney, an OnlyFans model accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death inside their Miami condo in 2022, as attorneys debated whether controversial evidence obtained by state prosecutors should be made public on Thursday.

At issue: defense plans by attorneys for Clenney that state prosecutors obtained through a warrant signed by a judge. Clenney’s attorneys are arguing that the information is protected through attorney-client privilege. The state was on the fence, seemingly willing to abide by the judge’s order.

The plans, and other evidence were obtained by state investigators during the failed prosecution of Clenney’s parents, who were charged with trying to hack into the computer of her boyfriend Christian Obumseli, who she is accused of murdering. Circuit Judge Laura Shearon Cruz, who quashed the evidence as attorney-client privilege in the trial of the model’s parents, is considering permitting it at the murder trial.

The texts and emails, stored in an iCloud account, included strategic communications between Clenney, her parents Deborah and Kim Clenney, and her attorneys. Prosecutors had argued the seizure was lawful, claiming they were unaware that the parents were represented by counsel at the time.

But Shearon Cruz postponed making a decision on whether the document will be classified and privileged until after the New Year holiday.

While an attorney for The Miami Herald argued that if the information is used as part of a motion to disqualify the state from prosecuting the case, it should be made public.

Clenney, 28, is charged in the 2022 stabbing death of her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, in an Edgewater condo. Clenney has pleaded not guilty, asserting she acted in self-defense.

The couple’s two-year relationship was tumultuous, marked by Clenney’s domestic battery arrest in Las Vegas and multiple police visits to her Austin home. After the stabbing in their Miami apartment, police investigated for four months before arresting her.