EDMONTON (CBC) - A lawyer for a young Edmonton woman accused in the slaying of Nina Courtepatte is asking the judge to consider a conviction of manslaughter, not first-degree murder.

Closing arguments took place in the 19-year-old woman's trial on Friday. She is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault.

She is the fifth person to be tried for Courtepatte's death. The 13-year-old's beaten body was found on a golf course west of Edmonton in 2005.

The accused cannot be named because she was 16 at the time she was arrested.

In his closing arguments, defence lawyer Peter Royal admitted the accused was there when Courtepatte was killed.

However, Royal argued the Crown's key witnesses, Joseph Laboucan and Michael Williams, are too unreliable to be trusted. Laboucan and Williams, who are currently serving life sentences for their roles in the death, made statements linking the accused woman to the crime.

Royal told the judge Laboucan's evidence was so inconsistent it should be ignored. As for Williams, Royal said in all his years as a lawyer, he had never cross-examined someone as "frighteningly sadistic and oblivious to the truth."

Royal told the court his client had no part in planning the slaying and believed Laboucan's idea to capture and kill someone was a joke.

However, the Crown rejected any suggestion that the young woman had no part in planning Courtepatte's killing, saying that too many people gave the same evidence about her role.

The accused knew the young girl was going to die, the Crown argued, and asked the judge to come back with a verdict of first-degree murder.

The judge will hand down his verdict on July 15th.

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