In a significant development in the high-profile case of OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney, who is accused of murdering her Nigerian boyfriend Christian Obumseli, a Miami-Dade Circuit Judge has ruled to exclude key evidence.
Courtney Clenney, 28, who is charged with the murder of her boyfriend on April 3, 2022, appeared in court on Wednesday, June 26, wearing a red jumpsuit. The ruling by Judge Laura Shearon Cruz focused on whether evidence pertaining to Clenney’s parents would be admitted.
Judge Cruz sided with the defence, stating, “I am granting the defendant’s motion, in part as a motion to exclude [evidence], and I’m granting it.”
The case involves allegations that Clenney and her parents hacked into Obumseli’s laptop after his death. Prosecutors had accessed Kim Dewayne’s iCloud account, uncovering messages indicating that the Clenney family, with the help of defence attorneys, tried to guess the laptop’s passwords.
Jude Faccidomo, Clenney’s attorney, commented on the ruling, saying, “They have entered the defence camp and invaded the attorney-client privilege. The next steps for the state’s attorney’s office is to dismiss the charges against my client and recuse themselves from the homicide case against Courtney Clenney.”
Clenney is charged with second-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of Obumseli in their Edgewater condo. Earlier this year, Clenney’s parents were also charged alongside her for the alleged hacking.
Defense attorneys argued that the laptop was a shared device between Clenney and Obumseli, and that the parents were authorized to access it. They maintained that the prosecution’s actions violated the family’s privacy rights.
“What happened was, they read through attorney-client privilege communications. That’s not proper,” said Faccidomo. “That’s a violation of their privacy rights, and because of that, Judge Cruz excluded any evidence they discovered because of it.”
The court’s decision marks a victory for the defence, with the excluded evidence potentially weakening the prosecution’s case. The next hearing is scheduled for August.
