Courtney Clenney asks court to consider alleged abusive relationship in self-defense claim

Courtney Clenney is asking a Florida judge to allow jurors in her upcoming murder trial to consider evidence that her attorneys say supports her claim that she acted in self-defence when she fatally stabbed her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli, in 2022.

According to a motion filed on July 7, Clenney's defence team is seeking permission to introduce text messages, medical records, eyewitness testimony, security reports, police body-camera footage and other materials they argue provide crucial context about the couple's relationship.

The OnlyFans model has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Obumseli's death.

In the filing, Clenney's attorneys argue the proposed evidence supports their planned battered spouse syndrome defence and would help jurors determine whether she reasonably believed she faced imminent danger at the time of the fatal stabbing on April 3, 2022.

The motion also requests permission for two domestic violence experts to testify, alongside witnesses who allegedly observed interactions between the couple or saw Clenney with visible injuries.

Among the evidence cited are text message exchanges that the defence says followed alleged physical altercations, along with records they contend illustrate what they describe as an abusive relationship.

Judge Andrea Ricker Woodson has not yet ruled on the request.

The latest filing comes more than four years after Obumseli was fatally stabbed inside the Miami condominium he shared with Clenney.

According to previous reports, police responded to the couple's apartment the day before the stabbing after Clenney told officers she had ended the relationship and wanted Obumseli to leave. 

Officers determined that Obumseli was a legal resident of the condominium and found no apparent crime had been committed before leaving the scene.

The following day, Obumseli died after suffering a stab wound from a kitchen knife. Clenney told investigators she threw the knife in self-defense.

Prosecutors, however, dispute that account, citing findings from the Miami-Dade medical examiner, who concluded that the fatal wound was inconsistent with Clenney's description of the incident.

Clenney was arrested four months later at a rehabilitation facility in Hawaii and has remained charged with second-degree murder while maintaining her innocence.

In an earlier statement, her attorney, Sabrina Puglisi, described the relationship as "unhealthy" and "marked by aggressive conduct from both parties," while asserting that Clenney was the victim of domestic violence.

Attorneys representing Obumseli's family have rejected the self-defense claim, maintaining that the available evidence does not support that theory and arguing that Obumseli was the victim of domestic violence.