SAVANNAH, Ga. — A man who witnessed an attack on a Savannah debutante and her friend on Christmas Eve 2005 told jurors Friday that he has no idea why he initially told police that two of the assailants were white men.

An hour after Brannen Miles fled the scene where his childhood friend, Jennifer Ross, was shot in the back during a botched robbery, Miles told police that two of the three attackers were white.

However, three black men, Michael Thorpe, 26, Webster Wilson, 25, and Kevin Huckabee, 21, are accused of killing the 19-year-old Mercer College student hours after she attended her debutante ball.

The men are charged with malice and felony murder for Ross' death and aggravated assault for injuries to her friend, Brett Finley, who was pistol-whipped during the attempted robbery.

After the shooting, Miles told police that he got a good look at one of the assailants — a white man with "blond facial hair" — as he climbed into a Ford Taurus and fled the scene.

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"I know he was a white guy," Miles said in a recorded police statement that the panel of seven women and five men listened to Friday. "I'm almost positive."

However, on the witness stand Friday, Miles said that he could no longer remember whether the attackers were black or white.

"I was in shock, and I have no idea why I gave that description," Miles said nervously. "I thought I believed what I saw, but I wasn't 100 percent positive."

Ross, who knew Miles and Finley since elementary school, died seven days later in the hospital.

Miles is the third eyewitness who has provided less-than-confident testimony regarding the appearance of the attackers during the trial, now in its second day.

On Thursday, Finley told jurors that he was unable to pick out any of the defendants in a photo line-up. He did testify, however, that the three men who accosted them that evening were black.

Ross' best friend, Lizzie Sprague, picked Wilson out of a photo line-up, but conceded under cross-examination that she was not "100 percent certain."

Defense attorneys who claim their clients are the victims of mistaken identification pressed Miles about his memories of the attackers.

"When did you decide that this white man was in fact a black man?" Richard Darden, Thorpe's lawyer, asked.

"It wasn't a decision, it was after reviewing it in my head so many times," Miles said.

Despite his uncertainty with the identities of his attackers, Miles was unwavering in his contention that he saw the suspects flee in a pewter-gray Ford Taurus with a honeycomb grill.

"I'm really good at cars. I can tell a car just by looking at the headlights in my rearview mirror," Miles said, adding that he had three subscriptions to automobile magazines. "But I'm awful at faces and names."

"So you're no longer certain about the white man, but the Ford Taurus, that hasn't changed?" Brian Daly, Wilson's lawyer, asked.

"Yes sir, I'm positive," Miles said.

Police relied on his description of the getaway vehicle. Jonathan Tolbert, a jailhouse informant, testified Friday that while he was working in the detailing shop of Savannah Toyota, he stole a pair of keys to a gray Ford Taurus at the defendants' request.

Tolbert, however, proved to be a difficult witness who refused to answer questions and often contradicted himself under questioning from both sides.

When asked who he gave the keys to after stealing them, Tolbert wavered between Huckabee and Thorpe before finally settling on the former.

"I was supposed to give the keys to Mike, but I gave them to Huck," said Tolbert, who described both men as childhood friends.

Dressed in Chatham County jailhouse blues, Tolbert stalled when asked to describe a conversation in which the defendants allegedly confessed to the crime.

"What was said by whom?" Chief Assistant District Attorney David Lock asked.

After a long pause, Tolbert finally said, "Mike shot the girl, and Will hit the guy with a gun."

A white male juror rolled his eyes during the testimony. Tolbert is the first of several witnesses whom both the defense and the prosecution have described as thugs, liars and cons.

Tolbert said he was in jail for a slew of charges, including theft by receiving stolen property and writing false statements unrelated to the theft of the Ford Taurus.

Huckabee, who is accused of driving the getaway car, occasionally glanced at his former friend. The two other defendants avoided eye contact with the convicted felon, who admitted that he hoped to receive consideration from prosecutors for his testimony.

"That's why you're here? You want to help yourself?" Thorpe's lawyer, Richard Darden, asked Tolbert.

"Yes, sir," Tolbert said.

Lawyers for Huckabee and Wilson will continue to cross examine to Tolbert Monday. The trial is being shown live on Court TV Extra.