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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, 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, 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 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, 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 mentally unstable as his fame was rising on social media to the point that he became a raging coke addict.
S1, EP72 "Reason Vs. Emotion"
The Defense walks the jury through the day Ana Abulaban and her friend, Rayburn Barron, were both shot and killed; their version of events differs from the State's theory. Ali's defense attempts to bring in nuance about 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 blame were the defendant's actions after he shot and killed two innocent victims.
