A man once famous on TikTok for his Scarface impersonations has received his sentence after being convicted in May of murdering his wife and her friend in San Diego in 2021.
A California judge has sentenced Ali Abulaban, 32, to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of Ana Abulaban, 28, and her friend Rayburn Barron, 29. He also received an additional 50 years in prison for a weapons charge.
During the trial, Abulaban never denied killing his ex-wife and Barron. They were sitting together on the couch in her San Diego apartment when they were shot.
Judge Jeffrey Fraser said Abulaban committed a “cold-blooded murder without any remorse” and described his actions as “chilling” and deeply selfish.
“The bottom line is he’s going to die in prison,” Fraser told the court. “He’ll never be a free man. He’s going to breathe his last there.”
Ali Abulaban gives Judge Jeffrey Fraser an offended look after he tells him ‘he will die in prison’
Abulaban claimed he was suffering from a “drug-induced psychosis” when he burst in and killed Ana, pictured, and her friend
The judge’s ruling caused the entire courtroom to burst into cheers and applause, almost identical to the reaction of friends and family when Abulaban was found guilty in May.
Frustrated, Abulaban imitated the audience by clapping and using a swear word.
His bizarre behavior didn’t stop there, as he decided to engage in a shouting match with Ana’s distraught sister while she was giving her victim impact statement. NBC San Diego reported.
“Ali, if I had known what my sister had to go through with all that abuse, if I had known, if I had known!” she screamed, “I would have flown back to her and taken her and Amira away from you.”
Amira is the couple’s daughter and was only five years old when Abulaban committed the murders.
“You promised my mother that you would take good care of her, like my parents did for Ana Marie and Amira in the Philippines,” she said. “But I had no idea that my sister’s life would be miserable if she lived with you. You treated my sister like she didn’t matter, but she did.”
Pictured: Ana’s sister yelled at Abulaban before she began her victim impact statement
Abulaban shouted back at her as his lawyer tried to calm him down
The family of Rayburn Barron, pictured, also released victim impact statements
Barron’s family also spoke to the court to tell what he meant to them, describing him as a caring and family man who did everything he could to help others.
“We’re often told that we’re such a strong family because we survived this tragedy,” said Barron’s sister, Lizbeth Baron. “But the reality is that this is the hardest thing we’ve ever been through and many of us are broken. The pain and trauma of losing our brother the way we did is so painful that we’re struggling to live normal, healthy lives.”
When it was his turn to address the victims, Abulaban begged the judge to express regret for what he had admitted.
He apologized to Ana’s family members and claimed he was in a “drug-induced psychosis” when he burst into her apartment building on October 21, 2021.
“My reaction at that time was an unintentional, 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 being sent to hell, and I don’t think that’s fair.”
The judge did not believe his explanation about the “heat of passion” and even referred to how good he could act based on his Tony Montana impersonation videos.
Judge Jeffrey Fraser, pictured, commented on Abulaban’s Scarface videos, saying: ‘Any tears he cried in this courtroom were for himself’
‘Firing within seconds of entering the apartment, clearly showing an intent to kill. No passionate passion. Deliberate, premeditated, premeditated, cold-blooded murder.
“He’s a very talented actor. When I saw the Scarface videos, it was like when you committed these crimes, you became the persona of Scarface,” the judge said. “Every tear he shed in this courtroom was for himself.”
Abulaban, who has a history of domestic violence, was reportedly evicted from his and Ana’s apartment in the luxury Spire San Diego apartment complex.
He believed his wife was cheating on him with Barron. According to San Diego Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast, the couple had been living apart for “quite some time.”
After Ana ordered him to leave, prosecutors secretly made a copy of the apartment key so he could install a listening device on his five-year-old daughter’s tablet.
Prosecutors suspect he became angry when he heard his ex-wife and another man talking.
Security camera footage showed him running from the elevator on the 35th floor to the apartment.
Brast said Abulaban shot Barron three times at close range — in the neck, cheek and back of the head — before turning the gun on his wife and shooting her once in the forehead.
He then called his mother to confess, telling his daughter that he had “hurt mommy.”
Ana appeared regularly in Abulaban’s comedy videos on TikTok. His now-deleted account once had more than 980,000 followers.