President Judge Louis Farina Monday denied the petition for an inquest into Jonathan Luna's death because it did not conform to court rules.
Ed Martino, a private investigator, and James Clymer, a local attorney, want to compel the county coroner, Dr. G. Gary Kirchner, to hold an inquest into Luna's death.
The court will decide if Kirchner is required to do so.
However, Martino and Clymer filed their petition for an inquest as a motion, and it must be filed as a complaint.
Martino, who has been retained by Luna friends and family members, said today they will correctly refile the petition, possibly as early as next week.
According to court rules, the case then will proceed as a regular civil lawsuit, with filings from both sides and eventually a trial.
Then-coroner Dr. Barry Walp ruled in 2003 that Luna died of "multiple traumatic wounds and fresh water drowning" and that his death was a homicide.
Martino agrees that Luna's death was a murder. He believes an inquest would shed more light on the murder, which has not been solved.
The FBI office in Baltimore has disputed the manner of death, believing it was a suicide.
Held by a coroner with assistance from a jury, an inquest is a further examination into the causes and circumstances of a death.
If the coroner's inquest is eventually denied, then Martino said he will go to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and ask it to investigate the case.