Adult star Courtney Clenney’s plot to flip script forward of ex-boyfriend homicide trial
Courtney Clenney is fighting to block prosecutors from using alleged prior violent incidents at her murder trial over the 2022 death of Christian Obumseli, with her defence team claiming she acted in self-defence
Courtney Clenney is charged in the the death of her ex boyfriend(Image: Courtney Clenney/Instagram)
Adult model Courtney Clenney is attempting to flip the script on prosecutors ahead of her murder trial, urging a Miami-Dade judge to prevent the state from using a series of alleged previous violent incidents to portray her as the aggressor.
Clenney, charged in the 2022 death of her ex Christian Obumseli, will contend she acted “in self-defence and as a battered spouse,” according to freshly filed defence motions in Miami-Dade criminal court examined by Fox News Digital.
In a July 1 filing, her legal team requested a Miami-Dade judge permit them to raise Obumseli’s 2020 Austin arrest warrant should the state open the door by characterising him as peaceful, gentle, passive or nonviolent.
The warrant, included with the defence filing, charged Obumseli with cruelty to a nonlivestock animal, a Class A misdemeanour, in Travis County, Texas. It lists an offence date of Nov. 2, 2020, but does not indicate how the case was settled.
Clenney’s legal team are attempting to flip the script(Image: Miami – Dade State Attorney’s Office)
Clenney’s solicitors maintain the records behind the warrant describe flat staff discovering Obumseli’s deceased dog, Halo, trapped inside a kennel in a cupboard after a flat had been deserted. Investigators allegedly found food in the kennel but no water, and faeces surrounding the animal.
A veterinary pathologist determined the dog’s most probable cause of death was dehydration from water deprivation, and investigators believed Halo had been dead for five to seven days before being found, the defence motion states.
The dispute over the dog’s demise is part of a wider pretrial argument about how the jury will perceive the couple’s tumultuous relationship.
This battle over evidence also encompasses the widely publicised lift footage that prosecutors allegedly want to use to portray Clenney as the instigator.
In a separate filing on 29 June, Clenney’s legal team argued that prosecutors are presenting a misleading excerpt of the February 2022 lift video. According to the defence, the state claims the video depicts Clenney hitting Obumseli, yanking his hair and continuing to assault him until the doors open and he can flee.
Clenney and Christian Obumseli(Image: Courtney Clenney/Instagram)
However, the defence argues that the prosecutors begin the video too late.
Clenney’s lawyers assert that earlier footage shows her entering the lift from her residential floor partially dressed, barefoot and without shoes, keys, wallet or phone. By the time she reached the lobby, her foot was bleeding, according to the filing.
The defence states that Obumseli later entered the lift, noticed blood on the floor and wiped it away with his foot.
When Clenney re-entered the lift later, Obumseli followed her, says the defence. Her lawyers argue that she repeatedly pressed the lift buttons in an apparent attempt to close the doors before he could get in.
