Manners defendants were responsible: Crown

A prosecutor says there is no evidence to support a defence claim that 15-year-old Jordan Manners shot himself accidentally at his high school almost four years ago.

The Crown is making its closing arguments at the second trial of two men known only as C.D. and J.W., who are charged with first-degree murder in Manners' death — Toronto's first fatal school shooting.

Prosecutor Tom Lissaman tried to dismiss testimony from one of Manners's teachers that the Grade 9 student had a fascination with guns and evidence that a photo of ammunition was found on his cellphone.

Lissaman said no gun or shell casing was found at the scene yet Manners was shot at a distance of up to 15 centimetres away from his chest at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute on May 23, 2007.

He has told jurors that based on the evidence, Manners was shot by J.W. either on the stairs or on the second floor before they entered the stairs.

He dismissed the claim by defence lawyer James Silver on Monday that Manners had shot himself as he examined the gun in a second-floor washroom at the school.

The Crown has finished its closing arguments at the trial of C.D. and J.W., who were 17 when Manners was killed and therefore can't be named.

'No evidence he was shot accidentally'

Lissaman told jurors they had a job to determine who killed Manners.

"There's no evidence he was shot accidentally, none," said Lissaman.

"You don't have Jordan Manners being shot in the bathroom by anybody," he said.

Earlier, Lissaman said several witnesses put C.D. at the scene where Manners was shot in the chest at close range in the stairwell with a 25-calibre bullet.

But he admitted that Manners and the other accused, J.W., were friends and the Crown was not able to demonstrate there was conflict between them.

Lissaman played a videotaped statement a former student named Y.M. gave to police in which she described J.W. dragging Manners down the stairs like a doll.

Y.M. was trying to tell the truth about what she saw and what others told her, even though she testified during the trial that she had lied, said Lissaman.

"Y.M. did tell the truth to the police to the best of her ability," said Lissaman.

Y.M. is a key witness in the prosecution's case.

This is the second trial for the two 21-year-old men in the death of the Grade 9 student. The first trial ended with a hung jury and a mistrial last year.