--- description: David Barajas was acquitted Wednesday over charges that he shot and killed a drunk driver who had earlier hit and killed his two sons. title: Texas Man Acquitted Over Shooting of Drunk Driver Who Killed His Sons image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41eaa1d5ce52ab62/6986a127cd6848a6a00963b7/david-barajas.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Acquitted of Charges He Shot Drunk Driver Who Killed His Sons by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 27, 2014 7:47 PM CUT  David Barajas leaves the courtroom during a break in his murder trial Aug. 20, 2014, in Angleton, Texas. B David Barajas leaves the courtroom during a break in his murder trial Aug. 20, 2014, in Angleton, Texas. BPat Sullivan—AP by [Alexandra Sifferlin](/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 27, 2014 7:47 PM CUT David Barajas was [acquitted](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FKIDS%5FKILLED%5FDRIVER%5FSHOT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined") Wednesday over charges that he shot and killed a drunk driver who had earlier hit and killed his two sons. Barajas was on trial for fatally shooting Jose Banda, who drove into Barajas and his 11-and-12-year-old sons while they were pushing a truck that had run out of gas. Barajas survived the incident, but his two young boys were killed. The prosecutors in the case said Barajas went home to get a gun and returned to shoot and kill Banda, the Associated Press [reports](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FKIDS%5FKILLED%5FDRIVER%5FSHOT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined"). The case was complicated, as there were no witnesses of the shooting, the murder weapon was never recovered, and gun shot residue tests on Barajas came back negative. However, ammunition and a holster for the type of gun that killed Banda were found in Barajas’ home. The defense, however, argued that there was not enough evidence to tie Barajas to the crime. Barajas may have also had jury sympathy, since he had support from the community in his Houston-area city of Alvin. According to the AP, both Barajas and his wife cried when the verdict was read. \[[_AP_](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FKIDS%5FKILLED%5FDRIVER%5FSHOT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3197033/dad-acquitted-shooting-drunk-driver/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3197033/dad-acquitted-shooting-drunk-driver/"},"headline":"Man Acquitted of Charges He Shot Drunk Driver Who Killed His Sons","datePublished":"2014-08-27T19:47:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:53:14.651Z","description":"David Barajas was acquitted Wednesday over charges that he shot and killed a drunk driver who had earlier hit and killed his two sons.","url":"https://time.com/3197033/dad-acquitted-shooting-drunk-driver/","keywords":["Crime","shooting"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41eaa1d5ce52ab62/6986a127cd6848a6a00963b7/david-barajas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41eaa1d5ce52ab62/6986a127cd6848a6a00963b7/david-barajas.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"David Barajas","caption":"David Barajas","creditText":"Pat Sullivan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3197033/dad-acquitted-shooting-drunk-driver/","name":"Man Acquitted of Charges He Shot Drunk Driver Who Killed His Sons"}}]}] ```