The Georgia teen who avoided criminal charges after he ran over and killed a math teacher should not be criminally charged because he was driving safely, according to his lawyer.

Jayden Wallace‘s attorney, Graham McKinnon, tells TMZ … Wallace, 18, was not driving his pickup truck “in a dangerous or unsafe matter” as he left the home of his “mentor,” Jason Hughes, after toilet papering Hughes’ property with his buddies. 

As a result, McKinnon says it’s not “appropriate to charge a crime” because it was a straight-up accident. Wallace was arrested and booked for vehicular homicide after the March 6 tragedy.

But the Hall County district attorney decided Friday not to bring criminal charges against Wallace or his friends after Hughes’ wife announced she didn’t want them to face prosecution, calling the incident a tragedy.     

McKinnon told us Wallace and his buddies “loved” Hughes — a coach and math teacher at North Hall High School in Gainesville, GA, where the teens are enrolled. 

The lawyer also claims the teens were not pranking Hughes, but instead, they were playing a “complicated game” with the toilet paper.

McKinnon referenced the fact that the teens did not throw eggs or shoot paintballs at Hughes’ house in trying to explain why the game was complicated, although his rationale was unclear. He also blamed the media for perpetuating the “prank” narrative.