The jury hearing testimony in the high-profile trial of Ali Abulaban, accused of killing his estranged wife and her friend in October 2021, found the former TikToker guilty of two counts of first-degree murder on Wednesday.
Abulaban, 32, who went by the name “JinnKid” on social media and has been in prison since the day of the shootings of Ana Abulaban and Rayburn Cardenas Barron, admitted during the trial to killing her husband.
As the judge read the first verdict, the gallery erupted in cheers and Abulaban turned to see the commotion. An emotional Abulaban then raised his hand to his face and wiped tears from his eyes as the court discussed his sentencing date, set for June 28. He faces life imprisonment.
On Friday, closing arguments in the case concluded and the jury began deliberating the case, deciding whether the killings were first- or second-degree murder. Deliberations continued Tuesday, then late Wednesday morning they announced they had reached a verdict.
Abulaban was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, with allegations of using a firearm in the killings. He was also accused of committing several murders under special circumstances. The defense hoped the jury could have convicted him of second-degree murder and his sentence would have been much less. Instead, he was found guilty on all counts and special circumstances.
Since it was undisputed that he killed the victims, jurors were instead tasked with deciding whether the killings were intentional and premeditated or committed in the heat of passion.
Closing arguments
Prosecutor Taren 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 Abulaban and her friend Barron, describing how Ali had spied on Ana to catch her with another man and that he was malicious and intended to kill them on the couch at home. the apartment where he once lived.
“The heat of passion doesn’t apply when you walk into an apartment you had bugged, with a key card you weren’t supposed to have, into a fight that no one but you knew about that it was happening,” Brast said. “And you brought a gun. It’s not the fire of passion,”
Brast said Ali had plenty of time to rethink his decision to go to the luxury downtown condo he shared with his wife to shoot and kill her and the man she was seeing.
The prosecutor showed the graphic photos Abulaban took of the bodies, played sounds of gunshot recordings he had on his phone and even mentioned online searches on how to cut up and trash a body, among other stuff. She said Ali Abulaban killed the couple because he felt disrespected, and that it was planned and premeditated, not a reaction in the heat of the moment as Abulaban claims.
He was so possessive and controlling over Ana that if he couldn’t have her, no one could. And she couldn’t live, and none of the men she was with could live either.
Prosecutor Taren Brast
Brast also mentioned the history of domestic violence and Ana’s text messages to Ali expressing his fear and desire to end the marriage, as well as the chances he had to rethink his actions, including during the ride all the way to the apartment to confront Ana and Barron, and even on the elevator ride.
“It was intentional, deliberate and premeditated,” Brast said.
Jodi Green, Ali Abulaban’s defense attorney, then presented her closing arguments. Green told the court his client should not be convicted of murder because he had a bad childhood, mental health problems and high cocaine use.
“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 Ana was having an affair with. And he can’t undo what he has did, but he didn’t murder “He’s not a murderer.”
Green said it was manipulation and that Ana dragged Ali along with her.
“This relationship between Ana and Ali right now is the peak of human emotion,” Green said. “It may not be your marriage, it may not be my marriage, but it is their marriage in its heightened state of despair.”
This relationship between Ana and Ali at this time is the peak of human emotion. It may not be your marriage, it may not be my marriage, but it is their marriage in its heightened state of despair.
Defense attorney Jodi Green
The defense attorney also pointed out that Ali Abulaban was packing his gun between shots, which is not necessary, and that this proves that he was crazy, as well as that he had cocaine. in his body eight hours later. proving that he was not of sound mind.
Ali Abulaban is accused of murdering his ex-wife and her friend in 2021. The jury deliberated for an hour without reaching a verdict. NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports.