A former TikTok star was sentenced Friday to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting his estranged wife and another man in their Southern California high-rise apartment in 2021.
A jury in May found Ali Abulaban, 32, guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Barron, 29, who had been cuddling on the couch when he burst in the apartment and fired six shots at them.
Abulaban, a rising star on TikTok known for his comedic “Scarface” impressions, did not deny killing his wife and her friend but testified that he “snapped” after finding them together in the San Diego apartment that the Abulabans had shared with their young daughter.
Ali Abulaban’s defense team argued that he had acted in the heat of passion and asked the jury to find him guilty of the lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter or second-degree murder. The jury, however, found that the killings were premeditated and intentional.
The couple were separated at the time of the murders after a volatile marriage marred by years of Ali Abulaban’s abusive behavior, including physically assaulting his wife.
On the morning of the killings, while the couple’s then-5-year-old daughter was at school, Ali Abulaban broke into the apartment and hid a microphone device in his wife’s bedroom so he could listen remotely.
When he heard live audio of his wife with Barron, Ali Abulaban drove to their building from the hotel where he was staying. A number of surveillance cameras captured him outside the property and riding the elevator to the 35th floor. Audio from a neighbor’s surveillance camera, which was played in court, caught the sound of six shots being fired, and a scream.
The first-degree murder charges included allegations of using a handgun in the killings. Because the jury had also affirmed the special-circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders, he faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.
Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
