More than two years after being convicted on two counts of violating honest services law, a federal appeals court has handed down a ruling that means Joe Bruno could face a whole new trial on those two counts, plus another that the jury couldn't decide on. Our Steve Ference covered the first trial each day and explains this latest development.

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NEW YORK STATE -- Back in June, outside the Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said, "I am confident that justice is going to be served and we're going to be okay."

But nearly half-a-year later, Bruno could end up facing a new trial in a complicated twist of legal events.

Legal expert Paul DerOhannesian said, "The case was at the point of everyone agreeing the conviction was going to be reversed. The question was, was the indictment going to be thrown out entirely , end of case? Or would prosecutors get another shot?"

Here's where it gets complicated: Bruno was convicted of two counts of violating honest services, not guilty on five and the jury couldn't decide on another count. He didn't serve prison time because the Supreme Court was in the midst of more narrowly defining what honest services law is. They soon ruled that you need to prove there were kickbacks or quid pro quo to find wrongdoing under honest services.

So the defense appealed the conviction because the prosecutors didn't technically make kickbacks a part of their case. Now the latest, a court has ruled on that appeal saying there is enough evidence to retry the case under that new definition.

DerOhannesian said, "The government is going to be permitted to go and get a new indictment that further outlines this bribery kickback theory."

That means the U.S. Attorneys can choose to start the case over under that new bribery theory or let Joe Bruno off the hook.

"You're going to go through the same process if there's an indictment that we saw before," explained DerOhannesian.

Attorney E. Stewart Jones, a friend of Joe Bruno, said, "I did talk with him today and he's disappointed with the turn of the case to the discretion of the prosecutor's office. He would have liked to have had a final resolution today."

Jones said he thinks it's unfair they can retry Bruno using the different theory.

"If they retry this case, they're retrying it on the exact same evidence," he said. "What they are doing is changing their theory of criminal liability, criminal liability theory that they rejected the first time through."

We couldn't reach Bruno, but one of his attorneys, William Dreyer, told us that it's good news the earlier conviction was vacated, but are critical of what it could mean going forward.

All of this setting into motion what could be years of legal proceedings for the 82-year-old who had already gone through a several weeks-long trial.

Jones said, "Millions and millions of dollars have been spent on this case and it's time to let the Senator move on and enjoy his declining years."

A case that has grabbed headlines for years, shaking New York politics, a case that could move forward again or not.

We also repeatedly reached out to the U.S. Attorney's office, but they have not returned our calls.