THE attorney for an influencer accused of her boyfriend's brutal stabbing death has spoken out about related charges filed against her parents earlier this year.
Courtney Clenney's attorney Sabrina Puglisi spoke exclusively to The U.S. Sun to slam the charges as "unethical," claiming they are a sign of panic from the state.
8
8
8
Clenneyis charged with second-degree murder after allegedly stabbing her boyfriendChristian Obumselito death at their apartment in Miami, Florida, on April 3, 2022.
In January, her parents Kim and Deborah were arrested in Texas as part of the investigation into Obumseli's death.
They allegedly accessed Obumseli's laptop illegally after they removed it from the couple's apartment following police processing.
When police first retrieved evidence of the fatal stabbing from the home, the laptop was left behind and never seized in connection to the murder.
read more on courtney clenney
According to the arrest warrants, detectives recovered text messages where the parents discussed trying to gain access to the computer.
They were each charged, along with their daughter, with one count of unauthorized access to a computer, computer system, or electronic device.
There is no suggestion that Clenney's parents played a role in Obumseli's death.
The attorneys for Kim and Deborah have called the charges "troubling," claiming it was a shared laptop and they had therefore "not committed a crime."
Most read in The US Sun
MONEY WAR Wendy's guardian demands ex Kevin return $112K after he was 'overpaid' in divorce
JEN PARTY Koepka’s wife Jena Sims flaunts figure in tiny bikini and stuns Paige Spiranac
CLOSING TIME Macy's closes store doors for good as theft drives US city into 'doom loop'
Attorney Jude Faccidomo added that "the access to the computer was part of the defense of Courtney Clenney and was an authorized access and it does not fall within the parameters of the statute that they charge.
"I think what you will ultimately see as this case is litigated, is that this statute was something they pulled out of thin air and does not apply to the facts of this case."
While the State of Florida claims that her parents should have turned the laptop over to the police as evidence rather than try to access it, their defense attorneys say that accessing the shared laptop was vital for her defense.
Therefore, it was under client-attorney privilege and they did not commit any crime, they say.
Kim and Deborah's defense team is now moving to dismiss the charges claiming prosecutorial misconduct as the charges were brought after the State unlawfully breached attorney-client privilege communications.
This breach occurred when the State retrieved a message between Clenney and her attorneys from her iCloud account via the laptop.
Clenney's defense attorney Sabrina Puglisi, who spoke to The U.S. Sun about her client's upcoming trial, has echoed the sentiments of Faccidomo.
8
8
'DELAY TACTIC'
When asked how the charges against Clenney's parents could impact the murder trial, Puglisi cooly noted that the defense team is not concerned but that perhaps the prosecution is.
"I don't think that this will impact the trial but what I do think it is is it is a kind of delay tactic by the state attorney's office," the attorney said.
"It was completely inappropriate.
"That laptop was a shared laptop and she had access to it similar to anybody who has a spouse or a significant other."
"To me, this is the state attorney not feeling confident in their case and trying to discredit the parents, trying to discredit the attorneys and, really take away from what we all should be focusing on, which is preparing for trial," she added.
CLENNEY CASE KEY DATES:
Clenney and Obumseli met in 2020 and moved to Miami together in January 2022. Here are the key dates that you need to know:
July 2021: Clenney is arrested in Las Vegas for domestic battery on Obumseli.
March 2022: Courtney allegedly told friends that she no longer wanted to be with Obumseli claiming he "is really not what you guys think he is," Clenney's friend Ara Borzorigan told Investigation Discovery.
The pair allegedly broke up for a few days but Obumseli moved back into their apartment on April 1, 2022.
April 2, 2022: Cops responded to a call about a disturbance and arrived to find that Clenney had kicked Obumseli out of their house and he allegedly tried to follow her into the elevator.
Clenney asks cops for a restraining order against Obumseli, claiming he stalks her. Obumseli later returns to the apartment and they seem to patch things up.
April 3, 2022: Clenney calls her mother at 4:43 pm and again at 4:49 pm during which her mother says she heard shouting and her daughter was telling Obumseli to leave the apartment.
At 4:57 pm Clenney called 911 after Obumseli was stabbed.
Cops arrive at 5:04 pm and find her "drenched in blood" according to comments made to ID and Obumseli is curled up on the floor, still alive.
Paramedics arrive and later he is declared dead. Clenney is interviewed by police and admits to causing the fatal injury.
April 4, 2022: A search warrant is issued for Clenney's phone, emails, and other records.
August 4, 2022: Clenney charged with one count of second-degree murder.
August 9, 2022: Clenney is arrested in Hawaii where she was in a rehab recovering from substance abuse and PTSD.
Further digging at the prosecution, Puglisi explained how Clenney and her defense team are ready for trial but that the latest stunt by the State shows that it is not.
"We can actually get this in front of a jury instead of right now, we're having to delay that case so that we can focus on these new charges and these allegations and, and all that.
"I just feel like this is really unethical behavior from the State Attorney and their office," he said.
While no date has been set for Clenney's trial, Puglisi says that the defense team's collective evidence will "paint the full picture" of what happened on the day of Obumseli's death.
The attorney told The U.S. Sun that so far, media reports have been "one-sided" against Clenney after footage was leaked of the influencer appearing to attack her boyfriend in an elevator.
While Puglisi admitted that Clenney and Obumseli had a "toxic relationship" and that "they should not have been together," the defense will display at trial how Obumseli was also an aggressor in the relationship.
Read More on The US Sun
Clenney denies any wrongdoing and has always maintained that Obumseli's death was a result of self-defense after an argument between the pair turned physical.
The U.S. Sun previously reported on how Puglisi and the defense team used a unique experiment with hog skin to find evidence to support their client's knife-throwing claim.
8
8
8
