Closing Arguments Upcoming In 'JinnKid' Double Murder Trial

SAN DIEGO, CA — Closing arguments are scheduled Friday in the trial of a man charged with murdering his wife and another man by shooting them inside the couple's East Village apartment.

Ali Abulaban, 32, who was known in online circles as a content creator dubbed "JinnKid," faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the Oct. 21, 2021, slayings of Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29.

Prosecutors allege Abulaban killed both victims because he was angered that his wife no longer wanted to remain married to him.

Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast told jurors that Ana Abulaban made it clear she was through with Ali Abulaban following multiple incidents of domestic violence and Ali Abulaban's sexual encounter with another woman.

While Ali Abulaban testified that his wife may have hurled empty threats of divorce out of anger and wasn't clear whether they might reconcile, Brast argued Ana's position was obvious.

"I want you out of my life, once and for all," she texted Ali Abulaban hours before she was killed.
Ali Abulaban testified that he did not have sex with the other woman, but Ana Abulaban had told others that he had cheated.

On the day of the shooting, Ali Abulaban said he sought to catch Ana Abulaban in the act with another man to prove "she's doing the same things she's accusing me of doing."

After hearing Ana Abulaban and Barron in the apartment via an app he activated on his daughter's iPad, Ali Abulaban sped over to confront them, he said.

Upon opening the front door to the unit, Ali Abulaban testified that he was startled to see his wife with Barron, "snapped," and began shooting without any control over his faculties.

"I couldn't take the (expletive) betrayal," Ali Abulaban testified through tears on Wednesday, stating that the next thing he knew, "I'm shooting and I can't stop."

Ali Abulaban's defense case, which included nearly three full days of his testimony, detailed his mental health struggles, childhood trauma from alleged abuse, and mounting cocaine addiction, all of which the defense alleges played a role in his mindset before and during the shooting.

Ali Abulaban testified that after moving to San Diego in early 2021, a rift formed between he and his wife due in part to a drug-fueled partying lifestyle they embraced with Ana Abulaban's friends, which included Barron.

He testified that the presence of her friends started "bleeding into my marriage and it started changing Ana."

Ali Abulaban said his undiagnosed mental health issues and a drug habit that escalated to daily use only made his handling of their marital problems worse.

Brast told jurors earlier in the trial that Ali Abulaban was "jealous, controlling and violent," and had been physically and emotionally abusive towards his wife throughout their marriage.

Ali Abulaban conceded that he had punched and pushed his wife on prior occasions in the months leading up to the shooting. He also admitted that he urged her against contacting the police or seeking a restraining order in connection with those incidents.

After the shooting, Ali Abulaban called his mother, father, and a friend to confess and sent them a photograph he took of the victims' bodies.

He later called 911, telling a dispatcher that he found the victims dead.

Ali Abulaban then picked up his 5-year-old daughter from her school and shortly before being arrested, told her, "I hurt Mommy," he testified.

By JASON KUROSU / City News Service