Courtney Clenney appears in police body camera video.
An attorney for the OnlyFans and Instagram model accused of second-degree murder in connection with the bloody stabbing death of her boyfriend says newly released police body camera video proves she was the victim in the contemptuous and rancorous relationship.
The legal question, of course, is whether past video is proof that she killed her boyfriend in self-defense.
Courtney Clenney, also known online as Courtney Tailor, 26, murdered her boyfriend with a powerful and downward knife thrust that sliced a key artery near the heart, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said on Aug. 11 when Clenney was charged.
That evidence, according to the state attorney, is damning, because Clenney allegedly told the police that she’d thrown the knife at her boyfriend when he was 10 feet away. Christian Tobechukwu “Toby” Obumseli, 27, died on Sun., April 3.
Courtney Clenney appears in police body camera video.
Paraphrasing comments by Clenney’s attorneys, Miami FOX affiliate WSVN that police body camera video “supports” a defense assertion that Clenney killed Obumseli in self-defense.
“Mr. Obumseli was the abuser,” attorney Frank Prieto told the television station.
The body camera video appears to show Clenney claiming she had been attacked by Obumseli.
“All of a sudden this is all happening!” Clenney said on the recording. “He wouldn’t leave me alone.”
WSVN described Clenney as “crying and visibly shaken.” The television station said the recording was made on April 1 — two days before Clenney admittedly stabbed Obumseli to death — even though it is dated April 2 in its upper right-hand corner.
Courtney Clenney appears in police body camera video.
The police responded to the luxury high-rise condo complex where neighbors frequently complained about Clenney and Obumseli’s heated arguments after a building security employee called for assistance.
“We get down here to the lobby area, and her boyfriend comes charging towards her,” a security guard explained to the responding officers.
According to WSVN’s recap of the recording, the building security guard told police officers that Obumseli tried to follow Clenney into the elevator after he tried “charging” her in the lobby.
Clenney then told Obumseli that she didn’t want him in the elevator, according to Sabrina Puglisi, one of Clenney’s attorneys.
Clenney also could be heard on the body camera recording saying that Obumseli had been “stalking” her.
“I want a restraining order against Christian Obumseli,” Clenney said on the bodycam video.
Courtney Clenney appears in police body camera video.
Clenney said she and Obumseli had been in physical altercations in the past, but she said the incidents escalated into what she referred to as “stalking.”
Prieto said he has “photographs of [Clenney’s] injuries” and said she had been harmed by Obumseli before she stabbed him.
“She was in a struggle for her life,” the defense attorney told WSVN. “She defended herself, and unfortunately, he’s deceased, but she defended herself with every ounce of energy she had left.”
The office of the chief medical examiner determined, according to the prosecutor’s office, that a “forceful downward thrust” of a knife resulted in a wound about eight centimeters deep in Obumseli’s chest.
Courtney Clenney. (Image via a Miami-Dade County Jail booking photo dated Aug. 26, 2022.)
Prosecutors have alleged that the angle and depth of the wound proves that Clenney was lying to the police about what really happened during the attack. Specifically, according to Rundle, a thrown knife could not have penetrated Obumseli’s chest at the depth determined by the autopsy.
Rundle also released elevator security camera video from February 2022 — weeks before the body camera footage recently released — that appeared to show Clenney attacking Obumseli.
While the newly released videos are relevant as to the status of the relationship, it is unclear how relevant they are to the instant question of whether or not a murder was committed or whether or not the killing of Obumseli was an act of self-defense.
Courtney Clenney appears in an Aug. 2022 mugshot.
Under Florida law, deadly force is justifiable when a killer “reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.” The key language is “imminent.” A video taken several days before a killing occurred does not directly explain whether or not a threat was imminent at the time of a killing.
Puglisi, who also represents Clenney, told WSVN she would not “answer questions about the specifics” of the stabbing.
“We look forward to a trial in this case,” Puglisi reportedly demurred.