No evidence Manners’ shooting death was accidental: Crown

TORONTO – A defence claim that 15-year-old Jordan Manners was shot and killed accidentally at his high school almost four years ago is not backed up by the evidence, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Crown attorney Tom Lissaman dismissed the claim made by defence lawyer James Silver a day earlier as the Crown wrapped up closing arguments at the first-degree murder trial of two men. The two accused are only identified as C.D. and J.W because they were youths at the time Manners was shot on May 23, 2007.

The 21-year-old men are on trial for a second time in Manners’ death – which was Toronto’s first and only fatal school shooting – after their first trial ended in a mistrial last year.

On Monday, Silver who represents C.D., told jurors that Manners was accidentally shot as he examined the gun in a second-floor washroom at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute with two other students.

But Lissaman disputed that, telling jurors that based on the evidence, "it’s a reasonable inference he was shot at close range by J.W."

"Let me be very clear, there’s no evidence Jordan Manners was seen walking down the hall … no evidence he went into the washroom, huddled behind a barrier, peering at a gun," said Lissaman.

"There’s no evidence he was shot accidentally, none," added Lissaman. "You don’t have Jordan Manners being shot in the bathroom by anybody, nor is there evidence he shot himself."

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 with the .25-calibre bullet that pierced his heart, said Lissaman.

Rather, evidence suggests Manners was shot by J.W. either on the stairs or on the second floor where witness S.W. testified she heard a "bang" before Manners entered the stairs, he said.

The Crown also tried to discount testimony from Manners’ home room teacher that the Grade 9 student had a fascination with guns and evidence that a photo of ammunition was found on his cellphone.

It’s not the responsibility of jurors to reconstruct the crime scene, but it’s their job to determine who killed Manners, the Crown attorney said. They should ignore some of the inconsistencies in testimony from students who were young at the time, he suggested.

Several witnesses put both J.W. and C.D. at the scene where Manners was shot, said Lissaman.

"C.D. and J.W. acted together that day," he said, and Manners "was shot by one or the other. They were the only ones involved in Jordan Manners’ murder."

But Manners and J.W., were friends and the Crown was not able to demonstrate there was conflict between them that would have provided a motive, he admitted.

Jurors heard 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., who’s a key witness in the prosecution’s case, 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 about the police statement, said Lissaman.

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

The judge was to continue his instructions to the jurors Wednesday before they begin deliberations.