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OnlyFans model Courtney Clenney is trying to turn the tables on prosecutors before her murder trial, asking a Miami-Dade judge to block the state from using a string of alleged prior violent incidents to paint her as the aggressor.
Clenney, the OnlyFans model accused in the 2022 death of Christian Obumseli, will argue she acted “in self-defense and as a battered spouse,” according to newly filed defense motions in Miami-Dade criminal court reviewed by Fox News Digital.
In a July 1 filing, her lawyers asked a Miami-Dade judge to allow them to bring up Obumselis 2020 Austin arrest warrant if the state opens the door by describing him as peaceful, gentle, passive or nonviolent.
The warrant, attached to the defense filing, accused Obumseli of cruelty to a nonlivestock animal, a Class A misdemeanor, in Travis County, Texas. It lists an offense date of Nov. 2, 2020, but does not show how the case was resolved.
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Clenneys lawyers claim the records behind the warrant describe apartment staff finding Obumselis dead dog, Halo, confined inside a kennel in a closet after an apartment had been abandoned. Investigators allegedly found food in the kennel but no water, and feces surrounding the animal.
A veterinary pathologist concluded the dogs most likely cause of death was dehydration from water deprivation, and investigators believed Halo had been dead for five to seven days before being discovered, the defense motion says. The filing also claims Obumseli gave “vague, confusing, and conflicting” accounts about the dogs death.
The animal-cruelty fight is part of a broader pretrial battle over how jurors will see the couples volatile relationship. The evidence fight also includes the publicized elevator video prosecutors allegedly want to use to show Clenney as the aggressor.
In a separate June 29 filing, Clenneys lawyers argued prosecutors are presenting a misleading snippet of the February 2022 elevator video. The state, according to the defense, says the video shows Clenney striking Obumseli, pulling his hair and continuing to hit him before the doors open and he can escape.
But the defense says prosecutors start the video too late.
Clenneys lawyers claim earlier footage shows her entering the elevator from her residential floor partially clothed, barefoot and without shoes, keys, wallet or phone. When she reached the lobby,