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TikTok Star Murder Trial
Prosecutors wanted the jury to hear from close friends and relatives of the Abulabans. On the stand was Ali's cousin who was communicating with him at the time of the murders. Jurors learned more about what may have motivated this TikTok star to plot and carry out the murders of his wife and her friend. According to his cousin, Ali got jealous that his wife was hanging out with another man after they separated. This was after Ali himself had sex with another woman in the couple's apartment.
S1, EP71 "Cocaine-Binge Heat Of Passion"
The toxic marriage fueled by constant domestic violence, emotional manipulation and verbal abuse eventually exploded into double homicide. But instead of a murder plot carried out by a jealous, controlling husband, Ali Abulaban's defense claimed the murders occurred out of a cocaine-binged heat of passion. In the Defense's closing arguments, Ali's attorney claimed that he was growing more mental unstable as his fame was rising on social media to the point that he became a raging coke addict.
S1, EP72 "Reason Versus Emotion"
The Defense walked the jury through the day Ana Abulaban and her friend, Rayburn Barron, were both shot and killed. Their version of events differed from the State's theory. Ali's defense attempted to bring in nuance between this troubling marriage which could better enlighten jurors about what led up to the two murders. According to the State in their rebuttal to the jury, lies and blames were the defendant's actions after he shot and killed two innocent victims.
S1, EP73 "Jury Deliberations And The Verdict"
The lead prosecutor buttoned up their case against Ali Abulaban in the State's rebuttal. Taren Brast reminded the jury of the defendant's demeanor when she was drilling him under cross-examination. This was to highlight the anger and need to control which prompted Ali to kill his wife, Ana, and her friend, Rayburn Barron. Next, jurors would deliberate over Ali's role and fate in this fatal ambush apartment attack where two young lives were tragically lost.
S1, EP74 "The Sentencing Phase"
Since there was no dispute that Ali Abulaban killed the two victims, jurors were instead tasked with deciding whether the killings were first or second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. Before the sentencing of Ali Abulaban, his defense appealed his murder conviction. Ali faced life in prison without the possibility of parole for being convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of his wife, Ana, and her friend, Rayburn Barron.
S1, EP70 "Premeditated Murder Vs. Heated Passion"
According to the prosecution team, Ali Abulaban did not just have a plan to kill his estranged wife and her suspected lover, but he also had a plan to get his five-year-old daughter and flee town after committing the double homicide. The lead prosecutor played back video of the fatal gunshots back to the jury. Later, the defense delivered their closing arguments. They were pushing for voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths because they occurred out of heated passion.
S1, EP69 "Closing Arguments"
Premeditated was the theme in the State's closing arguments to the jury. Lead prosecutor Taren Brast laid out her theory on how a marital separation between Ali Abulaban and his wife, Ana, led him to fatally shoot at close range her and her friend, Rayburn Barron. How bad had things gotten between Ali and Ana? According to the State, Ali had to write himself notes not to abuse his wife. This was just days before the double murder.
S1, EP68 "Defense Rests Their Case"
Ali Abulaban's attorney had more questions for him during redirect examination. She wanted him to clarify claims he made that alluded to him premeditating and carrying out the murders of his estranged wife, Ana, and the friend she was with, Rayburn Barron. Later, Ali Abulaban wrapped up his long testimony on the stand and then his defense rested their case-in-chief to jurors. Later, the stated delivered their closing arguments.
S1, EP67 "Jailhouse Confession"
While testifying on the stand, Ali Abulaban's defense attorney blew the whistle during his cross-examination. The State brought up a jailhouse confession Ali allegedly made where he bragged about killing his wife, Ana, and her friend, Rayburn Barron. Later, the jury listened to the defendant be apologetic about his role in the fatal shootings. Ali admitted that he was initially in the victim mindset until he began his so-called Journey of healing.
