Attorney Greg Leopard had heard the stories about the conservative nature of the federal appeals court that presides over Georgia cases.

That's why he was a little taken aback when the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals asked for oral arguments instead of simply ruling on the briefs each side filed in the case of Alvin L. Price and Donald M. Reynolds.

It got even better for his client this month when the court ruled in favor of Mr. Price, who is now entitled to a new trial in U.S. District Court in Augusta.

The 11th Circuit not only overturned Mr. Price's bank robbery conviction last week, but the court also ruled in favor of a former jail inmate who contended that his rights were violated, another rare ruling for the federal appeals court.

Sara J. Totonchi, the public policy director at the Southern Center for Human Rights, said the center has no statistics on appellate court decisions, but the 11th Circuit typically rules against criminal defendants and prison inmates.

Mr. Price's former co-defendant, Mr. Reynolds, wasn't as fortunate.

The federal appeals court ruled the evidence was overwhelming against Mr. Reynolds.

A number of witnesses testified that he blasted his way into the Queensborough Bank and Trust in Hephzibah on April 21, 2006, and later shot at a sheriff's deputy.

Mr. Reynolds is serving a 35-year prison sentence. Mr. Price, sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison, will be returned to pretrial status, Mr. Leopard said.

Mr. Price's defense was that he was so high on crack he didn't know what Mr. Reynolds was doing.

The 11th Circuit judges noted it was "far-fetched" but plausible, considering that, as the alleged getaway driver, Mr. Price drove off under the speed limit and slowly pulled into a gas station when a deputy appeared.

Based on Mr. Price's defense, it was a reversible error for the trial judge, U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr., to let the prosecution introduce Mr. Price's statements during an earlier hearing.

That evidence might have led the jury to find that Mr. Price was aware of his surroundings and culpable, the court ruled.

In the second case, the appellate court ruled that the District Court judge was wrong to toss out a prisoner's rights lawsuit filed by Gene L. Williams against McDuffie County Sheriff Logan Marshall and several officers.

U.S. District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood ruled that Mr. Williams did not abide by the law's requirement that a prisoner exhaust every administrative remedy before filling suit.

Mr. Williams was booked into the McDuffie County Jail on June 22, 2005, for an alleged probation violation.

The federal officers who delivered Mr. Williams to the jail advised jailers that he must have daily medication for diabetes and a heart condition.

Mr. Williams contended that he repeatedly requested the medications but jailers refused. Five days later, Mr. Williams had to be hospitalized.

Mr. Williams' case will return to the District Court in Augusta for a determination of whether Mr. Williams had a fair and meaningful chance to make his grievance known to the McDuffie County Sheriff's Department.