Courtney Clenney's Request To Keep Evidence In Boyfriend's Murder From Public Denied

Prosecutors have denied social media influencer Courtney Clenney's request to keep evidence in her boyfriend, Christian Obumseli's murder case under wraps. Florida prosecutors opposed it during a Zoom hearing Friday after Clenney's lawyer, Frank Prieto, requested the judge to hide the evidence from public.

"It's been the defense that has been frankly keeping this case within media attention," said assistant state attorney of Clenney's lawyer. "Mr. Obumseli was dead for five days and the defense was making statements to the media both in print and on television and local news."

Clenney's camp made the request after slamming Miami State Attorney Kathie Fernandez Rundle for sharing the surveillance footage from an elevator that shows Clenney repeatedly hitting Obumseli as the latter is seen using his arms trying to shield himself. The incident had occurred a month before he was fatally stabbed by the 26-year-old OnlyFans model.

Prieto described Rundle's decision to share the footage at a press conference as an "attempt by the government to prejudice and taint potential jury members against the defendant."

In the motion filed by Prieto in court, he requested the judge to ban prosecutors from releasing evidence in the case without the court's approval. He also filed an emergency motion to allow the exhumation of Obumseli's remains for inspection, which was blocked by the family's lawyer.

"It would be sacrilegious and go against the family's religion for the body to be exhumed at anytime," said the Obumseli Family's lawyer, adding that doing so would only traumatize the bereaved relatives.

Clenney has been accused of stabbing her boyfriend to death using a kitchen knife following an altercation at their apartment in April. Her attorney has maintained that she acted in self-defense after Obumseli tried to strangle her.

The Miami Police Department initially cleared Clenney from the case but later arrested her after the victim's family hired a lawyer to continue the probe on Obumseli's cause of death.

Initial investigation revealed that the victim died from a stab wound on his chest, caused by a kitchen knife plunged about 3 ½ inches into his subclavian artery.

Clenney is currently locked up at Hawaii Community Correctional Center on the Big Island, where she was arrested on Aug. 10 for second-degree murder.