Michael Ball’s application to have the government pay for a defence lawyer for his second murder trial was dismissed Friday – but that doesn’t mean the issue has been settled.

After initially being denied Legal Aid, Ball filed a Rowbotham application – another process by which people can obtain publicly funded legal help.

Justice Gerald Taylor heard his application Friday in Kitchener court and dismissed it without prejudice, meaning that as a result, Ball is able to submit another Rowbotham application when the case returns to court on Feb. 7, 2017.

Ball has been out of prison on bail since October 2015.

His first trial began shortly after that. It ended with him being convicted of committing an indignity to human remains, but a mistrial was declared on the charge of first-degree murder after jurors were unable to come to a verdict.

Both charges related to the death of Erin Howlett, whose body was found in the Grand River in July 2013.

With reporting by Max Wark