On the day the Ouachita Parish district attorney opted against prosecuting two Alabama football players, their defense lawyer discussed the reasons behind the move.

Attorney Joe Guerriero told AL.com the cases against Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones were weak from the very beginning. Both were arrested May 17 on guns and marijuana possession charges after West Monroe, La., police officers approached their parked car in a closed local park.

"There was no justifiable grounds for prosecution under any evidence rule that exists," Guerriero said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. "It's basic 101 Law that there were no grounds for prosecution based on what happened."

DA Jerry Jones agreed to the point he halted prosecution. The headline-grabbing charge was Robinson's possession of a stolen firearm. In an interview with KNOE-TV, Jones explained the issues with that particular charge.

"It might be under the driver's seat but I can't prove who put it there," Jones told the local TV station. "Even if I could get DNA showing that he had touched it at some point in time, that does not mean that he obtained it."

Though only Robinson and Jones were arrested and taken to jail, there were four people in Robinson's rental car early in the morning of May 17. The other two were handcuffed initially, Guerriero said, but only Jones and Robinson were booked. The incident report obtained through public records made no mention of the other two involved in the case.

Only a half gram of marijuana was found in the car, Guerriero said, and nobody had clear possession. The arrests were made, Guerriero said, only after Jones alerted police to the gun on his lap.

"Mr. Jones is the one who called it to the police's attention because he didn't want anything to happen," Guerriero said. "'Look, I have a gun in my lap. My hands are up. I just want to show you.'"

Possessing the gun didn't violate the law, so Guerriero said were no grounds for further searches. The attorney said it wasn't clear if the car occupants gave consent to search the vehicle.

"Nothing said they did," Guerriero said.

Jerry Jones, the local DA, said there were considerations beyond the evidence that went into his decision to drop prosecution.

"I want to emphasize once again that the main reason I'm doing this is that I refuse to ruin the lives of two young men who have spent their adolescence and their teenage years, working and sweating, while we were all home in the air conditioning," Jones told KNOE.

No further explanation was given and attempts by AL.com to reach the DA's office have been unsuccessful.