‘He will die in prison': San Diego TikToker Ali Abulaban sentenced for murdering wife, her friend

A former San Diego TikToker will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his estranged wife and her friend at an East Village high-rise apartment building in October of 2021, a judge ruled Friday.

The judge ruled Ali Abulaban, 32 — who went by "JinnKid" on social media — will serve two consecutive 25-year to life sentences for the murders of Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29, at the Spire San Diego luxury apartment complex, which he admitted to during trial.

Upon sentencing, the judge said he had "serious reservations" that Abulaban was truly remorseful for his actions.

"He's a very selfish person, as I think the jury saw," the San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser said. "The bottom line here is, he will die in prison, he will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there."

Sentencing

The court allowed six of Ana Abulaban and Barron's loved ones to provide victim impact statements before judge Fraser made his ruling.

Ana Abulaban's sister was visibly upset when she screamed at Abulaban about the effects the loss has had on their family.

"Ali, if I had known what my sister had been through with all that abuse, if I had known, if I had known! she screamed, "I would have flown again to see her and to take her and Amira from you.”

"You promised my mom that you would take good care of them like my parents did for Ana Marie and Amira back in the Philippines. But I had no idea that my sister's life would be miserable living with you. You treated my sister like she didn’t matter, but she mattered.”

Barron's family described their little brother as caring and a family man. Tearfully, they said he would go out of his way to help others and that their family hasn't been the same since his loss.

Previous coverage:

Crime and Courts May 20

Mother of San Diego TikToker testifies in her son's double murder trial

Crime and Courts May 22

TikToker accused in East Village double murder says he ‘snapped' when he saw wife with another man

"We are often told that we are such a strong family for surviving this tragedy.," Barron's sister Lizbeth Baron said. "But the reality is that this has been the most difficult thing we have ever experienced and many of us are left broken. The pain and trauma of losing our brother the way we did is so painful that we have difficulty living a normal and healthy life.”

It was then Abulaban's time to provide a statement to the court. Reading words written on yellow, lined paper, Abulaban apologized for the pain he caused the two families, but continued to defend his actions as a crime of passion during "a drug-induced psychosis.”

"The fact that I spent more time on the stand than the jury took to deliberate my fate is very concerning," he said as he asked the judge to give him a chance to rehabilitate himself.

Fraser called Abulaban "a very talented actor."

"When I saw the Scarface videos, it's as if when he committed these crimes ihe became that persona of Scarface. Just the cold-blooded killing without remorse," Fraser said. "Any tears he has cried in this courtroom have been for himself."

Before sentencing, the defense argued for a re-trial based on a line of questioning from the prosecution that prompted an outburst from Abulaban during the trial. The judge had previously ruled the line of questioning could be stricken from the record for the jury, but the defense -- while unhappy with the decision -- chose to cross-examine their defendant.

The prosecution's argument prompted an outburst from Abulaban. Watch below (Warning: Graphic language):

The defense argued those two questions from the prosecution -- which should not have been asked during trial, a judge agreed -- tainted the jury's opinion of their client and should lead to a mistrial.

Fraser ruled on the appeal that the moment in question did not taint the jury's opinion.

"The defendant was on the stand for 3 days … so the jury had an extraordinary amount of time to evaluate the defendant’s credibility," Fraser said. "And the idea that it would come down to, again, two insignificant questions is just not reasonable.”

The verdict

Abulaban was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder on May 29. Along with first-degree murder, jurors found special-circumstance allegations of committing multiple murders true.

Since there was no dispute he killed the victims, jurors were instead tasked with deciding whether the killings were first- or second-degree murder.

The murder trial spanned nearly a month and deliberations started on May 24. The jury reached a verdict late in the morning of May 29.

The defense was hopeful the jury could have found him guilty of second-degree murder, and his sentencing exposure would have been far less. He was instead found guilty of all counts and special circumstances.

"The jury came in and listened to the evidence for weeks, and they came to the right decision," Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast said.

After the verdict was announced, Barron's sister, Jordana Barron, told NBC 7 that her brother and Ana finally "got a little bit of justice."

"Obviously nothing is going to bring our brother or Ana back, but at least he is never going to be able to do this to another person again," Jordana said.

Closing Arguments

Brast began her closing arguments in the downtown courtroom by asking the jury to find Abulaban guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. She went through a timeline of the day Abulaban killed Ana and her friend Barron, describing how Abulaban had spied on Ana to catch her with another man and that he had malice and intent to shoot them to death on the couch in the apartment where he once lived.

"Heat of passion does not apply when you walk into an apartment that you had bugged, with a key card you were not supposed to have, to a fight that no one else knew was happening but you," Brast said. "And you brought a gun. That is not heat of passion."

Brast said Abulaban had plenty of time to rethink his decision to drive to the downtown luxury condo he shared with his wife to shoot and kill her and the man she was seeing.

The prosecutor displayed the graphic photos Abulaban took of the bodies, played the sounds of the gunshot recordings he had on his phone and even mentioned the online searches for how to cut up and trash a body, among other things. She said Abulaban killed the couple because he felt disrespected, and this was planned and premeditated, not a reaction in the heat of the moment that Abulaban claims.

Brast also mentioned the history of domestic violence and Ana's text messages to Abulaban expressing her fear and desire to leave the marriage, and the chances he had to rethink his actions, including during the drive to the apartment to confront Ana and Barron, and even in the ride up in the elevator.

"It was willful, deliberate and premeditated," Brast said.

Jodi Green, Abulaban's defense attorney, then presented her closing arguments. Green told the court her client shouldn't be convicted of murder because he had a bad childhood, mental health issues and was high on cocaine.

"Ali Abulaban is not a murderer," Green said. "Yes, he killed Ana, the woman he loved, the mother of his beautiful daughter, Amira, and he killed Ray, a man with whom Ana was having an affair. And he cannot undo what he has done, but he did not murder them. He is not a murderer."

Green said it was manipulation and that Ana dragged Abulaban along.

The defense attorney also pointed out the fact that Abulaban was re-racking his gun in between shots, which is unnecessary, and that it proves he was out of his mind, as well that he had cocaine in his system eight hours later, proving he was not of sound mind.