After two trials, a jury has found the two men charged in the school shooting death of Jordan Manners not guilty.
The pair, who can only be identified as C.D. and J.W. because they were 17 at the time of their arrests, were acquitted on charges of first-degree murder.
This was their second trial. The first ended in a hung jury.
"These boys have been in custody for a very long time," said J.W.'s lawyer Donald McLeod. "Although it's not a day to be elated, I think it's a day for us to at least see that justice did the job that we believe should have been done today."
"He was very, very happy," McLeod said of his client. "Life comes back to him."
Manners was shot to death inside C.W. Jefferys Collegiate almost exactly four years ago -- on May 23, 2007. He would have turned 19 on Wednesday.
"How do you expect my sister (Jordan's mother, Lorraine Small) to feel? Yesterday my sister spent her day at the burial ground," Jordan's aunt screamed at reporters outside the court. " That's how we feel as a family today."
"It will not be closure for my sister, there will never be closure for her, never...but you know what, God is the judge...God will judge them."
The lead Detective on the case, Sgt. Michael Barsky, also expressed his frustration with the verdict.
"I think it's a sad state of affairs in this country where we can allow two young children to hijack the court process," he said. "I think it's clear from the testimony of the witnesses that was changed substantially from the initial police investigation, that that itself is, as I referred to, the hijacking of the process."
During the first trial, two key witnesses backed away from statements they had earlier given police. One of the teenage girls said she couldn't recall the events while another said her account was based mainly on gossip.
A retrial began in March with the two accused, now 21, again pleading not guilty.
The Crown alleged the two had planned to rob Manners but it ended in murder.
The defence argued that Manners was accidentally shot while examining the gun with two other students in a second-floor washroom at the north-end school.
Witnesses included students and school staff with one teacher testifying that Manners was fascinated with guns.
Court heard Manners and the accused were friends and the Crown was not able to demonstrate there was any conflict between them.
But Prosecutor Tom Lissaman played a videotaped statement from a key witness, a former student named Y.M., who told police she saw J.W. dragging Manners down the stairs "like a rag doll."
Appearing in court, however, Y.M. said she invented the statement to get attention.
Other witnesses put C.D. at the scene, although he had reportedly dropped out of school.
Manners' death sent shockwaves through the city.
The slight teen, described as a "sweet little boy" by neighbours, had celebrated his 15th birthday just days before he was found lying in the school stairwell, a 25-calibre bullet lodged in his body. He was shot at such close range there was a powder burn on his jacket, court heard. His clothes had to be cut off because his jacket zipper was melted closed by the gunshot.
Witnesses told the court they didn't immediately realize what had happened since there was very little blood and Manners, struggling to breathe, was unable to talk.
His death pushed the issue of school safety to the forefront, as police officers were posted to many Toronto high schools, security cameras were installed, reviews were ordered and legislation was passed to protect students.
Lissaman said there will not be an appeal.
"We respect the verdict of the jury and our hearts go out to the Manners family, in particular, Jordan's mother," said Lissaman. "But again, in the manner in which this evidence came out before this jury, it is a reasonable verdict and we again thank them for the service that they gave to this community on a very difficult case and that's really all I have to say at this point."
Manners' mother was not in the courtroom when the verdict was announced.