The only two state attorneys assigned to the case of the OnlyFans model accused of murdering her boyfriend in Miami were forced to affirm under oath and in front of a judge that they did not violate their ethical duties.
The new development happened as attorneys for Courtney Clenney seek to have the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office disqualified from her case.
Clenney, 29, was arrested and charged with second degree murder in connection to the April 2022 stabbing death of her boyfriend, 27-year-old Christian Obumseli, at the couple’s Edgewater condo.
christianvstoby via Instagram
christianvstoby via Instagram Courtney Clenney and Christian Obumseli
The model claims she killed in self-defense, but Miami-Dade prosecutors believe Obumseli was a victim of domestic violence in an “extremely tempestuous and combative relationship.”
The Laptop
For the past three years there have been plenty of turns in Clenney’s case, including the arrest of her parents in February of 2024.
The arrest of Kim and Deborah Clenney stemmed out of a warrant from the City of Miami Police Department wanting to access their iCloud accounts.
Within the cell phone accounts, prosecutors obtained text messages that included the parents’ communication with their daughter’s attorneys, allegedly discussing how to break into the victim’s laptop.
The attorneys were not charged, but state attorneys ended up filing charges against the parents and the model for allegedly breaking into the computer.
However, months later state attorneys were forced to drop the cases after Judge Laura Cruz ruled to exclude a key piece of evidence in the laptop case, concluding that prosecutors violated attorney-client privilege by accessing private family conversations with their attorneys.
Prosecutors dropped a computer hacking case against OnlyFans model and murder suspect Courtney Clenney and her parents after a judge found the state improperly gathered evidence against them. NBC6’s Tony Pipitone reports.
Despite the ruling going in their favor, defense attorneys Frank Prieto and Sabrina Puglisi grew more worried about what prosecutors potentially saw in the iCloud accounts.
Defense believes their accounts accessed by state attorneys included “communication regarding case investigation, witness testimony, defense witnesses, expert witnesses, financial obligations, defense theories, counsel’s thoughts and impressions, and opinions on the case.”
A State Attorney Withdraws From Case
Months after the iCloud ruling and against the state attorney’s objection, earlier this year NBC6 reported Judge Cruz once again sided with Clenney’s counsel and granted them the opportunity to question under oath Assistant State Attorney Khalil Quinan, one of the three prosecutors assigned to the case, about what other material he might have seen in the accounts.
Records show, defense attorneys wrote in a motion they believed, “Assistant State Attorney Khalil Quinan conducted a search of the iCloud accounts and discovered the ‘Team Courtney’….communications that the parties believed to be private and privileged.”
Quinan withdrew from the case and he was recently deposed by defense attorneys in the presence of the judge.
A Miami OnlyFans model charged with murdering her boyfriend in 2022 was back in court Wednesday where a judge ruled to exclude a key piece of evidence in the case. Judge Laura Cruz concluded the Miami-Dade prosecutors assigned to the Courtney Clenney case violated attorney-client privilege by accessing private family conversations with their attorneys.
The content of the questioning was kept private, but records obtained by NBC6 show defense attorneys accuse Quinan of also accessing a document sent from Puglisi to Clenney’s parents titled “Courtney Checklist of Things to Do-Priveleged.docx.”
Post the deposition, defense attorneys are staying adamant to their desire of seeking to disqualify the entire prosecutor’s office based on Quinan’s alleged actions. They also accuse the remaining prosecutors on the case, Shawn Abuhoff and Kathleen Hoague, a chief assistant state attorney, of backing Quinan in defending “the privileged breaches.”
Request To Disqualify State Attorney’s Office
Records show Clenney’s attorneys believe her case has been tainted by “improper conduct” from the state attorney’s office.
The defense claims about 60 people within the office also accessed some of the model’s file and records show they are demanding the judge to disqualify the office as a whole or kick out Abuhoff and Hoague from the case, claiming it will preserve Clenney’s right to a fair trial.
On the other hand, in a rare occurrence, Abuhoff and Hoague raised their right hand in front of the judge on Wednesday and swore they did not personally review any of the privileged communications at issue.
Miami-Dade Corrections
Miami-Dade Corrections Courtney Clenney
Earlier this year, records show, state attorneys called defense attorneys request to question Quinan “a fishing expedition and harassment of a prosecutor” that “would create an undue burden in violation of both Florida and United States law.”
If the judge kicks the Miami-Dade state attorney’s office from handling the case, another county’s office could be assigned, for example.
A hearing on if the prosecutor’s office will stay on the case or if a new set of state attorneys should be assigned was set for next month.
Clenney remains behind bars without bond while she awaits trial. It’s unclear when the murder case will go to trial.
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