Lawyers on both sides of the case of a murdered six-year-old Calgary girl are presenting arguments Tuesday at the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Meika Jordan died of blunt force trauma in November 2011, when she was in the care of Spencer Jordan, her father, and Marie Magoon, her stepmother.

Jordan and Magoon were convicted last year of second-degree murder after a five-week trial and given life sentences with no chance of parole for 17 years.

They were originally charged with first-degree murder.

In a courtroom filled with supporters of Mieka Jordan's mother, Kyla Woodhouse, and stepfather Brian Woodhouse, Crown counsel Jolaine Antonio argued to the three-judge panel that the girl's killers should have been convicted of the more serious offence.

Antonio said that's because the lower court failed to recognize that the pair had forcibly confined Mieka.

"Irrespective of whether a murder is planned and deliberate on the part of any person, murder is first degree murder in respect of a person when the death is caused by ... forcible confinement," according to Section 231 (1) of the Criminal Code.

Antonio said there was sufficient evidence that there had been a patten of confinement that ended in Mieka's death.

"Both respondents were co-contributors in the pattern," she told the court.

During the trial, court heard that the girl was burned, beaten, punched, dragged by her hair and thrown down the stairs over a three-day period leading up to her death.

The Crown says the Court of Appeal should substitute first-degree murder charges for the lesser convictions without ordering a new trial, since it would be too great a burden for Mieke's family — as well as the first responders and doctors involved in the case — to endure the process a second time.

Defence lawyers for Spencer Jordan and Marie Magoon are appealing their convictions.

Magoon's lawyer said her statement, obtained through a sting operation, should not have been admitted by the trial judge and even if it was, Michael Bates argues, there's not enough evidence to show she was guilty of murder.

One of Jordan's lawyers said there is no evidence his client caused any blow to Mieka's head that could have caused the fatal injury.

At one point — as a lawyer was describing the multiple blows the girl experienced — her mother and stepfather left the courtroom in tears, followed by a group of supporters.

The three judges — Justice Barbara Veldhuis, Justice Marina Paperny and Justice Thomas Wakeling — have reserved their decision.