KITCHENER — Two and a half years after Erin Howlett's death and four months after his first-degree murder trial began, Michael Ball will again be tried in her killing after a jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the case.

Crown Attorney Mark Poland confirmed Monday he'll be seeking a first-degree murder conviction against Ball, for a second time.

"The second trial is needed due to a reasonable prospect of conviction and the overwhelming public interest in obtaining a verdict," he said in a statement.

A mistrial was declared in the case Friday after a 12-person jury couldn't come to a unanimous decision following two and a half days of deliberation. The jury did find Ball guilty of indignity to a human body — a conviction he'll be sentenced on this week.

Ball's lawyer, Brennan Smart, declined to comment on the retrial. On Friday, he called the jury's contradictory findings on the two rulings a "confusing result."

The indignity conviction was a "wrongful conviction," Smart said, and it would be up to his client to decide if he wants to appeal. He declined to say if an appeal was in the works Monday.

Ball, the 24-year-old son of a prominent Kitchener family in the construction business, was charged with killing Howlett, 28, an Elmira waitress, and dumping her body in the Grand River.

Her remains were found inside a duffel bag in the Grand River by swimmers near Riverbend Drive in Kitchener on July 5, 2013.

Howlett and Ball had dated before she was killed, and much of the trial focused on his alleged threats to kill her after he found sexual texts from other men on her phone.

Smart suggested Howlett died of a drug overdose and Ball had nothing to do with putting her body in the river — although court heard he'd told a friend he wanted to kill her and had bought a duffel bag in the days before she died.

A forensic pathologist testified she was unable to determine Howlett's cause of death.

Ball has already spent almost two years in jail. Three years in the eyes of the courts because it was pretrial time. If he's sentenced to the maximum of five years in the indignity conviction, he'd have two years left to serve. Ball was granted bail before his trial started.

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