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Prosecutors on Tuesday clashed with defense lawyers during hours of testimony from the lead prosecutor assigned to a murder case against OnlyFans and an Instagram model. Courtney Clenney. The question for the judge is whether Clenney should remain behind bars while awaiting trial or be granted some form of bail — and whether key records should be excluded from evidence.
Clenney, as he is known online Courtney Tayloris charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of her boyfriend Christian Tobechukwu “Toby” Obumseli27, a cryptocurrency trader who owns a luxury Miami home.
Audio Recordings of Battles
Judge Laura Shearon Cruz It was decided at the beginning of the trial that all recordings of fights between the two would not be admitted into evidence. At issue was the question of whether recordings made in the home of the deceased couple were private. As part of that analysis, defense attorneys and prosecutors argued that the words in some of the recordings could have been heard outside the apartment building.
“A decent person who screams at the top of their lungs thinks their neighbors will hear and probably write,” one prosecutor said. “What Christian wrote was irrelevant. Even he admitted it was useless.”
Defense attorneys did not object to releasing video footage related to the investigation; both parties agreed that those recordings appeared in public places. Neither party objected to the phone calls to a home security officer. The point is, the recordings were made in-house without third parties.
“No smiles . . . the writing instrument — the phone — is hidden on his person, so there is no smile; he is on his own,” a defense lawyer said, however, about the recordings Obumseli made of Clenney in their house.
The defense said the leaked footage was “false” – an “illegal wiretapping” – and that the apartment where the killing happened was on its own floor, which also had its own elevator entrance. The defense said the luxury apartment setup was not one of many units on the same floor separated by “thin” walls. Instead, they said Clenney was hoping for something secretly recorded in his own house – one the government couldn’t access.
“Ms. Clenney cried a lot for three months,” the prosecutor said. “No one expects privacy in his sound waves which are too far and too loud to be heard by others. . . he can be heard screaming in the videos.”
The defense also said the apartment was his own private property – so Clenney believed the records were private.
The judge said some of the recordings were so loud that he had to turn down the volume on his own computer – to the lowest possible setting – while reviewing it.
Judge Cruz ruled that it was a public hearing but the recordings of Clenney shouting “at the top of his lungs” in public because there was no “privilege of privacy” in the audio. so loud that it penetrated the walls of the unit – with evidence suggesting that the sounds disturbed some of the neighbours. Therefore, many exhibits were included, but one was not.
Motion for pretrial detention
The judge denied a defense motion to strike the state’s motion for pretrial detention on a technicality. The judge also refused to accept that the government had not informed the defense of the witnesses it planned to call at Tuesday’s hearing.
The motion for pretrial detention will then be considered on its merits.
Prosecutors played a video of Clenney dancing. They said it was a sign of bruises on his legs before the fatal attack on Obumseli. Therefore, the injuries did not result from an attack on Clenney by her boyfriend who killed himself, the government argued.
Clenney has long agreed to challenge Obumseli. He and his lawyers say he fought Obumseli in self-defense; prosecutors said Obumseli was murdered.
A coroner told the inquest that Obumseli died on Sunday, April 3, at 5:55 p.m.
The investigator said Clenney waived his Miranda rights and testified about what he said was the fatal injection of Obumseli.
According to testimony, Clenney said Obumseli left the house and an argument ensued via text message. The purpose is to share the locations of their phones with each other. Obumseli returned; the argument will be oral at that time. Clenney told Obumseli he “grabbed her by the neck” and “slammed her against the wall,” according to the detective. Clenney said he “could leave” and tried to call his mother. Clenney later said Obumseli forced him to the ground but could not explain how it happened, the detective said. He said he broke down again, went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife and “gave” or “threw” the knife to Obumseli when he allegedly ran at him. Clenney said the knife hit Obumseli in the shoulder, the detective said.
Later, the investigator said that Clenney described throwing the knife in a movement similar to throwing a football: he started by moving the knife behind his shoulder and raised it to Obumseli. Clenney said Obumseli was about 10 miles away.
Obumseli was unarmed when Clenney threw the knife, the interview revealed, according to the detective.
“It wasn’t fair,” the prosecutor said at one point in the trial. “The speaker’s statement is not true. He couldn’t throw the knife and it landed at an angle, piercing three inches deep. . . the body cannot.”
The stab wound was three and a quarter inches deep, the state said, and punctured Obumseli’s tendon.
Prosecutors said the wound was “down and to the right” – a “cross-body” cut.
Authorities have long argued that Clenney’s account of what happened did not match the evidence.
An Instagram video recorded before the fatal attack showed bruises on Clenney’s arms and legs, but not around his neck, authorities said during the trial.
The bruises were seen in Instagram videos, so they occurred before the victim fell, the investigator agreed. They were not the result of an attack that caused Clenney to fear for life or limb, the government said.
Clenney’s attorneys said their client was concerned about Obumseli’s appearance, saying Obumseli was bigger and stronger than Clenney.
The defense also said the photos of Clenney after the fatal stabbing were evidence of “physical trauma.”
The defense later grilled the detective about Obumseli’s harassment of Clenney. Shortly before the fatal stabbing, Clenney, while on the phone with his mother, was heard saying “come back,” the detective testified, and Clenney was the one who called 911.
The story also pointed to letters from Obumseli to Clenney in which the former admitted to “psychologically assaulting” the latter.
The government said Clenney’s self-examination contained evidence that he was making up his statements as he went along.
“Because I know – I was scared,” Clenney said as she described the episode during a recorded police interrogation that was also released by prosecutors.
The government said Clenney waited while trying to explain the killing as justified — a sign, prosecutors say, that he knew what he was doing was less serious.
“He lived in his mind . . . he didn’t know if this was right,” argued a prosecutor.
Additionally, the government said Clenney called Obumseli several times after reading the video about his multiple injuries before the killing. Then, he started broadcasting again. The government said his behavior was uncharacteristic of Obumseli.
Prosecutors said Clenney was “attacking Christians.”
Clenney called home security before calling 911, the state said.
The final question of the evening surrounded Clenney’s phone records — specifically, questions about when the stabbing occurred. The prosecution said Clenney called his mother, then made a safe, then 911.
The bond hearing lasted until about 5:50 pm even though it started at 1:30 pm.
No decision on the defendant’s financial position has been made; He remains held without bond, according to court records. Additional performances are scheduled for Thursday at 1:00. The medical examiner was often considered an additional witness; a financial expert was called as a witness. The investigator who testified did not know the nature of Clenney’s finances, and it appears that prosecutors are still digging deep into his bank account before setting bond or bail. or
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