OF Model facing murder charges accepts plea deal

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Keeping an eye on some developments in this high-profile murder case out of South Florida, we've talked about Courtney Clenny before, who is an OnlyFans model who was charged with the murder of her boyfriend and has now, according to reports, accepted a plea deal in this case. And so joining us live now to talk about this, what she makes of it, where things go from here, we are pleased to be joined by A.V. Perez, who is a legal analyst and content creator. You know, we're A.V. to the seventh power on YouTube. A.V., always good talking with you. Thanks for joining us here on Fox 35 News Plus today. [00:00:44] Courtney Clenney: Absolutely. Thanks for having me back. We have another wild case coming out of Florida that is coming to a resolution. [00:00:51] Speaker 1: There's always a wild case out of Florida for us to talk about, A.V. But this is interesting. I'm curious. I just want to get your initial thoughts and your reaction to the news of the plea deal. Did that surprise you at all? [00:01:05] Courtney Clenney: Yes. I think a lot of people in the legal community are surprised. Courtney has had her case moved, or at least part of the trial, moved several times this year. We're actually supposed to start in April of 2026, and then it got moved and delayed until August. And, you know, we've been kind of waiting. One thing in 2025, this case has moved several times. You know, things like continuances. You know, there were her parents that were involved in an unrelated charge tied to Christian Obenselli, the victim in this case, laptop. So there has been an ongoing almost three-year feud to get this case to trial. So no one expected that she was actually going to accept a plea deal this early on. And the details of that plea deal are still yet to be seen. Christian Obenselli's family released a statement over the weekend saying that they worked with the prosecution's office and the defendant herself on this plea deal. And Christian Obenselli's family also has a civil litigation or civil litigation with the building that the couple lived in. So I wonder how all of this is going to play out. As of right now, August 10th, next Monday, at 1030 a.m., I believe, is where she is going to formally accept the plea, get the details on what terms are included in the plea. What exactly is she pleading guilty to? So it's going to be a very interesting week. [00:02:42] Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. You talked about the kind of the battles to get to trial. And so what do you think then maybe changed? What part of this equation changed maybe then to precipitate a plea deal, even though we don't know the terms right now? What do you think may have happened to make this kind of deal become reality? [00:03:07] Courtney Clenney: Yeah, I believe there's likely some sort of evidence because Courtney Clenney's posture in this case is that she was acting in self-defense, right? It's to the point where they were starting to look at experts, expert witnesses that were going to testify at trial, some of them being blood splatter experts, knife throwing experts as well. It's one of those things where the self-defense theory, we also have evidence showing Courtney Clenney being violent with Christian on an elevator, right? About two months before he came to, you know, his unfortunate passing. But it is one of those things where evidence has been a problem in this case from the beginning. It took six months for her to actually be arrested. She was extradited from Hawaii. So after, you know, April of 2026, when Christian, you know, passed, you know, she wasn't arrested until about August or September of that year. And that was in 2022. Many, many, many evidentiary hearings have happened. I think there was a change of the guard prosecution as well. So there's a new prosecution. And her team has been solid from the beginning, saying that this is a domestic situation, a domestic violence situation. And I wonder if evidence this close to trial kind of shatters that self-defense theory that she had. [00:04:35] Speaker 1: I want you to put your lawyer hat on for us here. And, you know, like you said, we don't know right now what the terms of this plea deal might be. But if you had to kind of speculate and to guess, what do you think would be some of the terms that we could expect to see in a plea deal, you know, knowing what we know about this case? [00:04:58] Courtney Clenney: Yeah, so when it comes to murder, there's different layers of it, right? You murder in the first degree, you have second degree murder, you also have manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter. I'm guessing we might land in that realm. It's very similar to the Julio Fulio case with Alicia Andrews, not necessarily having first degree murder, but the jury, you know, significantly decreased that down to manslaughter. So I'm guessing we might land in the manslaughter realm, but at the same time, you know, there's still some information that needs to come out because when it comes to these plea deals, they're highly structured. The DA's office will say, here is, you know, we'll give you credit for time served. Here is what you need to plead guilty to if there's a remainder of time that's, you know, going to be served as well. Probation, you know, there are things that are going to be outlined, but many folks in the legal community are anxious to take a look at what the actual filing looks like. [00:06:00] Speaker 1: I am sure. Now, she was facing potential life in prison. So what do you think a, you know, a prison sentence might look like in this case, assuming that that is part of this? [00:06:13] Courtney Clenney: Yeah, so looking at the time that she's already done, she's been in prison since, or jail since 2022, she could have the four years credited, right? But I do think that she could be somewhere in the 10 to 15 realm with the four years that she's already done. [00:06:30] Speaker 1: And you mentioned the statement from the victim's family. What is their kind of stance on this? Just go into that again. What the reaction we're hearing from them and their role in this? [00:06:45] Courtney Clenney: Yep. Yep. So they released a statement on Saturday. It was fairly brief, but what was revealing is that they had been working with the prosecution's office for a resolution here. And it looks like this could have been in play within the last week or so, you know, again, we still have that second civil matter. This is the criminal matter, but there is a civil matter as well, where the family is suing the one Pariseau building in the Edgewater community where the couple actually resided. So I wonder if there's some cross-connection between that, but they have been working very closely with the district attorney's office to come to a resolution. [00:07:24] Speaker 1: For those who don't know, A.V., is that common for family to work with prosecutors when it comes to plea deals in cases like this? [00:07:31] Courtney Clenney: It really depends. It really depends. I mean, the prosecution's office always wants justice for the victims and their families. However, folks do have to understand that prosecutors, they're attorneys for the state, right? So if someone breaks a law within the state, their job is to get justice and, you know, charge those folks accordingly. So it really depends on the state. There's 50 of them. Everybody operates differently. But it does seem as if the family here was working very closely with the state, especially with that statement coming out on Saturday. [00:08:04] Speaker 1: So what are you going to be watching for, A.V.? Obviously, looking for the filings and for the details to come out about this. But what will you be looking for when it comes to this case moving forward and what might come out about this plea deal? [00:08:19] Courtney Clenney: Yeah, so next Monday, we will see the plea deal itself, exactly what she's pleaded guilty to. And then we're also going to see the sentencing immediately afterward. So that's all happening in one hearing. We're going to be watching for what the actual sentence is going to be. And I'm more curious about the evidence that has, you know, kind of spooked this team or at least changed the defendant's mind to take the plea deal. Because half of the time people start to—defendants are in jail for such a long time, they start to get worn down and tired of waiting. And, you know, with this case almost four years in the making, that's quite a bit of time waiting to go to trial. [00:09:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, there's no doubt about that. It has been something to watch and will continue to be so. August 10th, as you said, that next court date, where we'll learn some more details about this. A.V. Perez, a legal analyst and content creator, A.V. to the 7th Power on YouTube. We always appreciate you joining us. Thanks so much for sharing your analysis and perspective with us here on Fox 35 News Plus today. [00:09:26] Courtney Clenney: Anytime. Thank you for having me, Garrett.