Law&Crime Sidebar - OnlyFans Model Charged with Murdering Her Boyfriend: The Story So Far

Episode Date: August 12, 2022

Only Fans and instagram model Courtney Clenney, professionally known as Courtney Tailor, faces a second degree murder charge in Miami-Dade County, Florida for the death of her boyfriend, Christian “Toby” Obumseli. Obumseli died in April of a stab wound to the chest that severed an artery. Clenney’s lawyer claims she was the victim of abuse at the hands of Obumseli but a surveillance video shows Clenney attacking Obumseli earlier this year. Prosecutor Mark Weaver joins Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy to discuss the case, the charges and what Clenney’s and Obumseli’s lawyers are saying.GUESTS:Mark Weaver, former Deputy Attorney General for State of Ohio, Prosecutor: @MarkRWeaverLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. An Instagram model charged now with murdering her boyfriend months after he died. A video shows her attacking him in an elevator, but she says she was the victim of his abuse. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and welcome to this latest edition of Law and Crime Sidebar Podcast. This video came out on Thursday, and it is absolutely stunning.

It shows Courtney Taylor, that's how she's known online. She's an Instagram model. Her legal name is Courtney Clennie. It shows her attacking her boyfriend, Toby Abunselli. And he died actually on April 3rd of this year. Clennie was actually arrested in Hawaii on Wednesday of this week. So this is an interesting case. This woman, Courtney Clennie, is claiming she was actually the victim of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, who is now dead. But the state attorney in Miami-Dade, Florida, says, I don't think so. So joining me to talk about this is Mark Weaver. He is a former deputy attorney general with the state of Ohio. He's also a prosecutor and an attorney and an all-around good guy. So Mark, Mark, Welcome to Sidebar. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for having me back.

What did you think of this, Mark, when you first saw the video and heard about the charges? This is a second-degree murder charge. Yeah, I've never been a defense lawyer, but this defense lawyer ought to cut a deal. This is not a good video for this woman. If her story all along has been that somehow Toby was the aggressor against her and that her action in, she said throwing a knife, but the medical examiner says it's actually a stabbing, but that her actions with the knife was somehow self-defense,

this video doesn't suggest that at all. In fact, if it's allowed to be seen by a future jury, I think every juror will see that, in fact, she's the aggressor, and he's doing everything he can do to sort of stop the confrontation. I think it's interesting you point that out. need to let the listeners and the viewers know that this, this knife that was used to kill Toby, and we're calling him Toby, his last name's a little hard to pronounce, but they're saying, the prosecutor is saying it was a downward knife thrust that sliced a key artery near this guy's

heart. She's claiming, though, she threw the knife from 10 feet away. I want to point out, you know, I've covered cases in the past of things involving knives. One case in particular, I covered involving police, shooting a man armed with a knife. And they were far away from them, but they said, you know, you can throw a knife from a distance of 21 feet and still cause great bodily harm or injury to somebody. So that is why they said they were justified in shooting this guy. So I guess knives can cause damage or, you know, kill somebody when tossed from a great distance. But a downward thrust sounds like this was pretty close contact, don't you think, Mark? Yeah, and I'm not sure how her claim of throwing the knife somehow helps her. Both would be illegal, both would be attempted murder, throwing a knife at somebody or stabbing somebody with a knife is attempted murder if they don't die, and it's murder if they die. And so she's going to have to put forward some sort of self-defense defense, but the element of every self-defense defense is that you had a reasonable belief that your life,

was in danger or that you were about to be at risk of substantial bodily harm. And if there's no one else there, it's going to be her word for this. And this video does not make her a credible source for this discussion. She, of course, is claiming that she is the victim here, that she was the victim of his abuse repeatedly. An attorney, though, for the family of Toby says, no, she was the aggressor. in this relationship, you know, it makes me think that say she was attacking him and she's claiming he was the aggressor in the relationship, the video in the elevator, although it's a couple of

months before, it's in February of this year before he died on April 3rd, it shows him kind of cowering and trying to, trying to, you know, shield himself and defend himself and putting his hands up. If you were the primary aggressor in a relationship, wouldn't you have like just struck her back. That's how I would look at it. I mean, am I wrong here? No, I think that's how most jurors would look at it. If her story is, this guy was always beating me. That's going to have to be her story. By the way, that's not a defense. The self-defense only works when in that moment you are at risk of death or serious bodily heart. It can't be that, you know, weeks ago I was in that moment and then now I'm doing it today. So if her story is he was always beating me

and she'll say, for no good reason he would beat me. He'd just beat me out of the blue, right? A guy who does that, a domestic violence person, if he were being poked at and slapped in an elevator where you think you're by yourself and there's no one else around, a true domestic violence aggressor would respond immediately with a punch or a kick or something very aggressive. And the most we see Toby do in that video is try to grab,

her hands or try to grab her in a headlock, largely to stop the fact that she's continuing to slap and punch him. Yeah, definitely. And I want to read something here that we reported on law and crime.com. You know, this is an interesting finding from the chief medical examiner. The prosecutor quotes the chief medical examiner as saying the forceful downward thrust of a knife resulted in a wound of about three inches or eight centimeters in Toby Abunselli's chest. And so that shows, you know, the medical examiner says, that three inches, think about that. That's about the, you know, let's think about maybe like that. That's how far the knife went into his chest.

That you couldn't do that from throwing. That's what the chief medical examiner told the prosecutor, according to the prosecutor. Yeah, and although throwing it doesn't help or any, that suggests she's lying. And so we have now, we'll have forensic evidence that the notion of throwing a knife is a lie. That goes directly to her credibility. And we'll have this video, which I will presume will be admitted. Now, I'm sure there's going to be a hearing to contest whether or not this can be admitted. The defense lawyer will argue that it's irrelevant to the question of what happened months later.

And if that doesn't work, he'll argue that it's more prejudicial than probative, which is a standard objection to keep certain evidence out. And so the case might hinge on whether this video comes in. And so I would imagine there would be a pretrial hearing on this. We would call it a suppression hearing where the defense will seek to have the judge exclude this video from testimony. If the judge rules pretrial that it's coming in, that sets the table for a likelihood of a plea agreement. I'm reading a little bit more about this, Mark. It's really interesting. Apparently, Toby Abunselli and Courtney Clennie, who is this Instagram model, as I said, also an only fans model, that they moved into this apartment building where they were living, this apartment

complex in January of 2022, so earlier this year. And apparently, couple, you know, tenants from as far as two floors away, according to the prosecutor, had complained about the noise and ruckus from the couple. The management at this apartment complex allegedly even considered evicting them because of everything that was going on and the noise complaints and the constant stuff happening. Also, the prosecutor said on the day of the murder, April 3rd, Clenny called Toby Abunselli at 4.1 p.m. and then went live on Instagram and then at 433, she allegedly called Toby Obunselli again after posting the video. And Abun Sully is believed by prosecutors to have walked into the apartment where Clennie fatally stabbed him.

So it says then at 443, Clennie called her mother and spoke on the phone until 449. So that's 16 minutes, according to the prosecutor. And that call, or I should say, I'm sorry, six minutes. I misspoke, six minutes. So at 449, Clennie, they're saying, placed a second call to her mother. And that discussion lasted more than seven minutes and ended. at 456 and then she calls 911 at 457. So it sounds like they're saying she kills him, she calls mom a couple of times, then calls 911 instead of killing him, whether it was an accident

or not, and calling 911. She calls mom first. That doesn't look good either. Yeah, this shows that she realizes she's in trouble, right? If she truly wants help for Toby, who is her boy, friend, then the first thing you do is call 911. Oh, my goodness, I threw a knife I didn't mean to, and now he needs help, please hurry. Calling anybody else, your mother, whoever else, is simply trying to come up with a cover story about how you won't be blamed for this. So the person who you say you love and wouldn't want to die is bleeding out on the floor, and you're making phone calls to people arranging what you're going to say. That's what it will look like to the jury. That's why I'm I'd be surprised if this case actually went to a jury trial because there's so many indicators

that there'll be a conviction, the defense lawyer is going to fight to keep some of this evidence out. And if that fight doesn't work, then they're going to look for the best possible plea bargain. And they're saying in the affidavit for the arrest that she made several inconsistent statements, Courtney Clenney did. Also, we need to keep in mind, you know, Mark, this is a second-degree murder charge, not a first-degree murder charge. So that kind of makes me think, you know, obviously the prosecutor in Miami-Dade County is not, or the state attorney, I should say,

is not saying this was some big-time premeditated homicide. Yeah, sound like the heat of passion. Now, second degree sounds right. Either way, it's a serious criminal case. She's genuinely at risk of spending a lot of time in prison. And the prosecution has put together There are a lot of good evidence already. And I read in the story about this that the defense lawyer is calling the video irrelevant

and prejudicial and they're going to do the best they can to keep the evidence out. But from what we can see right now, this is a pretty strong case. Well, and I don't see the videos being irrelevant because it shows her acting out physically against this guy. So you could call that, you know, another bad act or whatever. but it still shows maybe a pattern. I'm sure that's what the prosecutors will. Yeah, prior bad acts are not typically allowed in his evidence,

but if she's going to introduce as a defense somehow that Toby was the aggressor in the relationship, that will open the door to other evidence that would show that's not true. So it puts her in a tough spot. Defendants don't have to prove anything in a criminal case. They don't have a burden of proof. But a jury wants to know what your theory of the case is. And if your theory of the case is that I'm a domestic violence victim and I'm constantly being abused by Toby, then you've opened the door to this video that suggests what you're saying

is just not true. Most definitely. Well, Mark Weaver, former deputy attorney general with the state of Ohio, also a prosecutor. Thanks so much for coming on. We're going to follow this case very closely. Courtney Clennie may fight extradition back to Florida from Hawaii. That's probably not in her best interest. So we don't know if she'll just wave and then be brought back to Florida to answer to the charges.

So thanks again for coming on, Mark. Thank you, Angelette. And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Michael Dininger and Sam Goldberg. Alyssa Fisher handles our bookings. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. And Kiera Bronson does our social media. You can find Sidebar on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast.

And of course, you can watch it on the Law and Crime Network. YouTube channel. I'm Angelette Levy, and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.