Facing murder charge, Instagram model Courtney Clenney appears in bond court
MIAMI - Instagram model Courtney Clenney, accused of fatally stabbing her boyfriend at an apartment they both shared, appeared in bond court Saturday morning.
Clenney, 26, aka Courtney Tailor, who has more than 2 million followers on Instagram, was charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon in the killing of Christian Toby Obumseli back in April of this year.
She is currently being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
Her lawyer, Frank Prieto, says there is an issue with the arrest warrant.
"I feel it's important that the court be made aware that that warrant that judge signed that he did find probable cause however, there's not probable cause for second-degree murder... at best it's manslaughter."
Prieto claims that there were several misstatements in the warrant indicating cherry-picked text messages and alleged bruising.
He says he has proof.
"The detective also indicated there were no signs of bruising that was consistent with Ms. Clenney. I was at the homicide unit and I have photographs of her bruising."
The judge addressed Clenney and said that she's not the judge who should be making these decisions and she wants a judge who knows more about her case to take over.
"I don't wanna make any sort of ruling and then jeopardize any sort of right for ruling you'd have in front of a judge who may be more familiar with the facts of the case... For all those reasons, I'm going to abstain at this moment from interjecting my opinion and allow this case to be reset in front of the judge who is going to be handling the case."
They're not making any other ruling besides telling Clenney that she's there because she was arrested on a warrant and at present is charged with second-degree murder and she will go in front of a judge and have a more in-depth conversation at that time.
Arrainment is scheduled for September 6th.
Prior to her extradition, Clenney had been held without bail in Hawaii.
The Miami State Attorney's Office released a video at the beginning of August showing Clenney attacking Obumseli in an elevator just two months before police say she stabbed him to death.
According to the arrest warrant, Clenney claimed she threw the knife at Obumseli from 10 feet away, but a graphic description from the Medical Examiner's Office revealed Obumseli suffered from a knife wound three inches deep. The type of wound, they say, caused by forceful pressure.
CBS4 learned that domestic violence was constant in Obumseli and Clenney's two-year relationship.
According to the arrest warrant, "One Paraiso security documented so many incidents of arguing, including complaints from tenants two floors above, that the building's management was moving towards legal action to evict the couple."
Prieto said she was in Hawaii seeking professional help to process the trauma experienced on the night of the stabbing.