Cam and Hootie will not be prosecuted. But should they be punished

Cam Robinson and Hootie Jones will not face prosecution after being arrested in possession of a controlled substance and a stolen firearm. The Monroe County District Attorney made the decision and released it to the media today, June 20, 2016.

DA Jerry Jones explained his reasoning:

"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 teenage years, working and sweating, while we were all in the air conditioning,"

Well, that’s magnanimous of him but the absolute truth is that it was Robinson and Johnson who stood to ruined their own lives. They are the ones responsible for being in the position they were in—facing at least one felony count and the high likelihood of time in the joint.

So that raises the question of whether there should be extra-judicial consequences for what can only be described as a very, very bad transgression against “team rules.” Those so-called “team rules” are used as a catch-all set of guidelines for how student athletes representing the university are supposed to conduct themselves, both on and off campus. The coach gets to decide whether those rules were broken and if so, what punishment should fit.

I’m all for leaving that decision up to Coach Saban but if these two young men were a part of a team I was responsible for leading, some kind of something ought to be imposed.

I don’t care if it’s running until they puke, cleaning the locker rooms after fall camp workouts or wearing a sign on the Quad saying “I’m a knucklehead.” Maybe sitting for the season opener (or better yet, sitting home in Tuscaloosa reading Moby Dick), I’d do something to make it hurt and make an example.

Breaking rules is not to be tolerated, whether the DA decides to prosecute a felony case or not.

This Bama fan thinks something fitting should come down. What say ye?