Trials
Abulaban’s appeal was denied. An affirmance is not a new trial.
On Sept. 17, the Fourth District denied Abulaban's appeal and left two first-degree murder convictions in place. Life without parole plus 50 years to life is still the judgment.
By Crime Talk Network Staff Writer ·
An appellate denial leaves the judgment intact. It is not a new trial, and it is not a resentencing. On Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026, a three-justice panel of California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal rejected Ali Abulaban’s bid to overturn two first-degree murder convictions. Abulaban, 34, known online as JinnKid, was convicted by a San Diego jury of the first-degree murders of Ana Abulaban, 28, and Rayburn Cardenas Barron, 29, who were shot on Oct. 21, 2021, in the couple’s 35th-floor Spire San Diego unit in East Village. The jury also found a multiple-murder special circumstance. The sentence remains life without parole plus 50 years to life.
The appeal argued that jurors heard improper character evidence, that trial counsel was ineffective for not objecting, and that the cocaine-intoxication instructions were inadequate. The panel rejected those claims. It said the evidence of premeditation was strong — he kept an apartment key after being kicked out and planted an iPad — that searches for dead-body photos were relevant to state of mind, and that the only cocaine mental-state evidence was his own testimony. Those are reasons the convictions stand. They are not a second jury verdict, and they do not add years to the term.
An affirmance is the judgment staying put.
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Reporting noted by WACB, WHKY, and Taylorsville Times.
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A Marion County jury convicted Roderick Watson Jr., and the judge sentenced him to life.
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Reporting noted by Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office, WFTV, WCJB, and Law & Crime.
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Reporting noted by Keys News, Keys Weekly, Miami Herald, NBC 6 South Florida, Monroe County State Attorney's Office, and Monroe County Sheriff's Office.