Former TikToker Ali Abulaban, famous for his Scarface impressions, has learned his sentence after being convicted in May of killing his wife and her friend in San Diego in 2021.
On May 30, Ali Abulaban, 32, who was better known as ‘JinnKid’ on social media, was found guilty of shooting his wife, Ana Abulaban, 28, and her friend, 29-year-old Rayburn Cadenas Barron, on October 21, 2021, in San Diego.
Throughout the trial, Abulaban never denied murdering his estranged wife and Barron, who were snuggled up together on a sofa in her San Diego apartment when they were shot.
A few months later, on September 6, Abulaban was sentenced to serve two consecutive 25-year to life sentences for the murders, NBC San Diego reported.
Judge Jeffrey Fraser said Abulaban committed a “cold-blooded killing without remorse,” adding that his actions were “chilling and very selfish”.
“The bottom line here is he will die in prison,” Fraser said in court. “He will never be a free man. He will take his last breath there.”
The sentencing then got heated after Abulaban got himself into a screaming match with Ana’s distraught sister while she was giving her victim impact statement.
“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.”
Amira is the couple’s daughter, who was just five years old when Abulaban committed the murders.
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“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,” she said. “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.”
Abulaban shouted right back at her, while his defense attorney tried to calm him down.
Barron’s family also took the stand to tell the court what he meant to them. They described him as caring and a family man who went out of his way to help others.
When it was his turn to address the victims, Abulaban pleaded with the judge and expressed regret for what he admitted to doing.
He apologized to Ana’s family members and claimed he was in “a drug-induced psychosis” when he barged into her high-rise building on October 21, 2021.
“My response in that moment was an unintended impulsive reaction against my better judgment to the discovery of Ray’s romantic involvement with my wife,” he said. “Being sent to prison forever feels like I’m being sent to hell, and I don’t think that’s fair.”
The judge didn’t buy his “heat of passion” explanation, even citing how good of an actor he was from his Tony Montana impression videos.
“He is a very talented actor. When I saw the Scarface videos, it’s as if when you committed these crimes, you became that persona of Scarface,” the judge said. “Any tears he’s cried in this courtroom have been for himself.”