Jordan Manners, a Grade 9 student at C.W. Jefferys high school, was shot in the chest in a school stairwell in May 2007, according to the Crown. (CBC)The question of whether a key witness recanted her account of the shooting death of 15-year-old Jordan Manners because of fear or because she initially lied was the focus of closing arguments Monday at the trial of two men charged with murdering the Toronto teen.

Manners had turned 15 days before he was shot and killed inside his school, C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute, on May 23, 2007. Two men, identified only as J.W. and C.D. because they were youth at the time, are charged with first-degree murder in his death.

Earlier in the six-week trial, a teenage girl, who cannot be named, testified she'd witnessed J.W. drag Manners like a "rag doll" down the stairwell by his collar and press something to his chest. Then, C.D. rifled through his pockets, she said.

The girl was one of three students at the school in Toronto's west end who told police they witnessed the incident but later altered their testimony.

In Ontario Superior Court on Monday, defence lawyers argued that the young eyewitnesses the Crown relied on were not credible and gave inconsistent accounts.

Witnesses afraid to tell truth in court, Crown argues

The Crown urged the 12-member jury to focus on the accounts the witnesses gave to police in the hours after Manners's death, suggesting the students were more honest at that time than later on the stand.

"The chief reason for them changing their testimony is simply put: fear," said Crown attorney Tom Lissaman.

Lissaman said the key witness asked police at least twice that she not be named because she was afraid. The Crown attorney also refuted suggestions that the key witness had gone to police because of pressure from her aunt.

A court sketch of defence lawyer Donald McLeod making closing arguments as co-defendants look on in the background. (Alex Tavshunsky/CBC)Defence lawyers suggested the young witnesses cobbled together their accounts of the shooting based on what they heard other students say during the time when the school was locked down after the shooting. The students likely chatted about the incident over a period of several hours, the lawyers said.

"This is a high school. What do they do? They talk. They gossip," defence lawyer Lydia Riva told the court.

The defence also questioned the alleged motive of the accused — robbery — noting Manners had $90, an iPod in a black leather case, a chain with a cross pendant and cellphone on his body when he was discovered in the stairwell.

"This robbery never happened," argued Riva. "That fact alone should be enough for reasonable doubt. Without a robbery, the Crown offers no motive for why two teenagers would murder a friend."

Witnesses testified earlier in the trial that Manners was good friends with J.W. and also knew C.D.

The Crown pointed to witness testimony that suggested the chain, wallet and cellphone Manners had on him might not have been his but stolen from someone else.

Details of shooting questioned

Defence lawyers argued there is no physical evidence, such as DNA, gunshot residue or surveillance video, to link the two accused to Manners's killing.

The defence lawyers also questioned whether the crime actually took place on the stairwell since no gunshots were heard there.

"We know that guns make sound," J.W.'s lawyer, Donald McLeod, said in his closing arguments. "It is almost trite to have to say that."

A single witness testified she heard a gunshot on the second floor near the boy's washroom, noted McLeod.

Though Lissaman acknowledged that posed a "conundrum," he also added that expert testimony had said the sound could be muffled by clothing.

Even then, McLeod said, according to experts some sound would still have been heard.

Justice Ian Nordheimer will instruct the jury on Tuesday before deliberations begin.