Ali Abulaban, a TikTok star known for his Scarface impressions who said he was “double nostril-ing” cocaine before he “just f–king snapped” seeing his estranged wife with another man, pled not guilty to murder charges, with his defense claiming he was “simply out of his mind.”
Ali Abulaban, the TikTok star accused of shooting and killing his estranged wife and another man, was found guilty on Wednesday of two counts of first-degree murder.
He was also found guilty of the special-circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders, per Fox’s San Diego affiliate, KUSI.
While Abulaban, 31, did not deny killing Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Barron, 29, he had pled not guilty, with his defense team arguing he was “simply out of his mind.” The prosecution had been pushing for a first-degree conviction.
The official verdict, per KUSI, for Abulaban was that he was found guilty of intentionally using a firearm to cause great bodily injury and death to both victims. The jury had been in deliberation since closing remarks this past Friday.
Abulaban — who amassed nearly 950K followers thanks to comedy skits and Scarface impressions — took the stand last week in his own defense to tell his version of the events of October 21, 2021.
Abulaban’s claim is that “all judgment and reason [flew] out the window” when he saw his estranged wife and his friend together, convinced that they were cheating. You can read all the details of his testimony here.
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He admitted to a history of violence against Ana under cross-examination. Per prosecutors, he was “harassing” Ana leading up to her death, with Ana telling him to leave her alone. She even threatened to get a restraining order.
Abulaban also admitted to going into Ana’s apartment the morning of her death, while she wasn’t home, and trashing the place — before activating a recording app on their daughter’s iPad and hiding it near Ana’s bed in an attempt to catch her having sex.
It was after hearing her and a man talking together on it later in the day, he rushed to the apartment, entered the unit and killed them both. On the stand, he still insisted the idea to activate the app the morning of the murders was a spur of the moment decision and not something he pre-planned.
He now faces life in prison. He could have faced the death penalty with this sentence, if prosecutors had decided to pursue it, per the San Diego Union-Tribune. His sentencing is scheduled for June 28 at 9 a.m.
You can check out our coverage of the shooting and the trial below.
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