A social media personality testified Wednesday that he "snapped" upon seeing his wife with another man inside the couple's East Village high-rise apartment and shot the pair while he was "in the passenger seat of my own body."
Ali Abulaban testified Wednesday that after months of suspecting his wife, Ana Abulaban, had been cheating on him, he burst into the couple's apartment to find her and Rayburn Cardenas Barron cuddling on the living room couch.
"I couldn't take the (expletive) betrayal," Abulaban testified through tears, stating that the next thing he knew, "I'm shooting and I can't stop."
Abulaban, who went by 'JinnKid' on social media, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the Oct. 21, 2021, shooting at the Spire apartment building that took the lives of Ana Abulaban, 28, and Barron, 29. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of all counts and allegations.
Get San Diego local news, weather forecasts, sports and lifestyle stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC San Diego newsletters.
Prosecutors allege that in the wake of sustained physically and emotionally abusive behavior towards his wife, Ana Abulaban expressed that she was finished with her marriage to the defendant. But Abulaban stated Wednesday that he still thought reconciliation was possible.
Though prosecutors have argued that Ana kicked Abulaban out of their apartment, Abulaban testified that he believed that he was merely "giving her space" by staying at a hotel in Mission Bay for a period.
On the day of the shooting, Abulaban said he had an order of groceries and roses delivered to the apartment.
He was "anxious" to see Ana's reaction to the flowers, but became suspicious when she sent him a nonchalant response regarding the delivery, Abulaban said.
Abulaban drove to the apartment to find some of the groceries still outside the apartment's front door and the roses inside the apartment, crushed beneath Ana's makeup bag.
Covering Ali Abulaban's trial
When he texted Ana about her whereabouts, she said she was at the apartment, which Abulaban said sent him into a rage in which he vandalized the unit and threw away some of his wife's belongings. In an audio recording played in court, Abulaban can be heard yelling, "She's lying! She's cheating on me!"
Abulaban then opened an app on his daughter's iPad and placed it behind the bed in order to catch his wife with another man. While back at his hotel room, Abulaban said he heard Ana and another man over the app, causing him to immediately speed over to the apartment. Upon opening the front door, Abulaban said he was "startled" to find Ana with Barron on the couch. "Him of all people," Abulaban testified.
Earlier this week, Abulaban testified to meeting Barron at parties around San Diego and said Barron often made flirtatious remarks about his wife.
Abulaban said, "I couldn't believe that she could do that to me."
Abulaban's defense attorney, Jodi Green, argued to jurors earlier in the trial that Abulaban's mental health struggles stemming from childhood trauma, as well as his escalating drug use, caused him to act out of "passion and provocation, rather than from judgment or malice" during the shooting and that he was "not in his right mind."
The prosecution's cross-examination of Abulaban began Wednesday afternoon, with Deputy District Attorney Taren Brast questioning Abulaban about multiple incidents of domestic violence committed against Ana.
Abulaban testified about some of those instances on Tuesday, admitting that he punched his wife in the face in July of 2021 and pushed her on two occasions in September. He also admitted Wednesday to hitting her in the face just days before the shooting.
Abulaban conceded that he had sought to persuade Ana against contacting the police. Though he agreed with Brast's statement that Ana "should have called the police" on him, he said he was always apologetic and did not like that his wife threatened to use the incidents against him.
"Don't hang it over (a person's) head if they're trying to actively apologize," he testified.
Abulaban also denied punching Ana in the face while he was in the military, leading to his discharge. Instead, he said that while he was heavily intoxicated, he fell and accidentally brought Ana to the ground while she was trying to help him walk.
Earlier in the trial, Brast told jurors that Abulaban's alleged sexual encounter in September with another woman living in their building was the final straw for Ana.
The prosecutor said Ana made it clear she wanted to leave the marriage, but Abulaban wouldn't move on.
"He could be with other women, but she couldn't be with other men," Brast said in her opening statement.
After the shooting, Abulaban called his mother to confess and sent her a photograph of the victims' bodies. He testified that did not remember taking the picture.
He said that he later called 911 to get his wife and Barron medical attention because he wasn't certain whether they were dead.
Abulaban then picked up his 5-year-old daughter from her school and shortly before being arrested, told her, "I hurt Mommy," he testified.
Abulaban's testimony will resume Thursday morning and jurors are expected to begin their deliberations later this week.
