Ali Abulaban, the TikTok user who shot his wife, Ana Abulaban, and her friend, Rayburn Cardenas Barron, to death was sentenced on Friday in a heated proceeding. Members of the crowd clapped and cheered on hearing Judge Jeffrey Fraser say that the defendant will “die in prison.” Ali Abulaban, who had a history of court outbursts, mockingly clapped and appeared to mutter something. It happens at about 9:20 in the video above.
He had also argued back at Ana’s sister during her tearful victim impact statement.
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Jurors in San Diego, California, convicted him in May of murder. Before the killings, Ana Abulaban, 28, had kicked him out of their apartment on Oct. 18, 2021, for shoving her, and she voiced plans to file a restraining order. The defendant, known online as “JinnKid,” sneaked back into the residence three days later, trashed the place and installed an app on his 5-year-old daughter’s iPad, which allowed him to spy on the home, authorities said. On hearing Ana and Barron, 29, speaking and giggling, he returned to the apartment. Defendant Abulaban shot Barron three times and shot his wife in the head before leaving the scene.
When it was his actual time to speak on Friday, Ali Abulaban voiced an apology for what happened and attributed his behavior in part to mental illness and drug abuse. Nonetheless, he also maintained that the killings were crimes of passion and he criticized the jury for their verdict.
“The fact that I spent more time on the stand than the jury took to deliberate my fate is very concerning,” he said.
Judge Fraser found no mitigating circumstances and dismissed that Ali Abulaban’s difficult childhood, substance abuse or mental health contributed to the murders. He sentenced him to two consecutive life sentences for the murder charges plus 50 years to life for using a gun in the crimes.
“The bottom line here is, he will die in prison,” the judge said on Friday. “He will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there.”
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