The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a case over whether a federal agent should face a third trial over a fatal 2011 shooting in a Waikiki McDonald's restaurant.

The refusal means prosecutors can't pursue a manslaughter charge against U.S. State Department Special Agent Christopher Deedy. “The impact of this is that the manslaughter charge is now dismissed permanently and that Mr. Deedy cannot be tried again on it,” Deedy's defense attorney Thomas Otake said in an email Thursday.

The case isn't over, said Brooks Baehr, a spokesman for the Honolulu prosecuting attorney's office. A statement from the office called the decision “regrettable" but said the state will continue to pursue a trial for first-degree assault.

Prosecutors pursing a third trial took their quest to the Supreme Court after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request for a wider panel of judges to hear the case. A panel ruled that if prosecutors want to try Deedy a third time, it can only be for assault, not manslaughter.