By Sharon Coolidge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

A man convicted in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court of running gambling houses throughout the state and then funneling the money to terrorist groups overseas will get a new trial, the 1st District Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

And the charge of operating a gambling house won't be a part of the new trial because evidence to support it was vague, the appellate court said.

The court reversed Philip George's conviction on a simple procedural matter - Judge Robert Ruehlman wrongly denied George a continuance.

George said he needed more time to prepare for trial because during a search of his home the state took materials he needed for his defense.

"The trial court therefore abused its discretion when it refused to grant George's motions for a continuance," 1st District Court of Appeals Judge Mark Painter wrote in the decision. "This error was not harmless because George's allegations, if true, severely inhibited his ability to prepare a defense and possibly gave the state access to privileged materials."

First District Court of Appeals Judge Lee H. Hildebrant Jr. concurred that George deserved a new trial, but said Ruehlman did not abuse his discretion in denying the continuance because George could not give details about the materials he needed.

Ruehlman declined to comment on the court's decision.

George is free on $125,000 bail.

The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office has the option of appealing the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, but a decision whether to do that has not been made.

The case dates back to October 2001 when a Hamilton County grand jury indicted George, 45, of Akron, on charges relating to gambling activities in Ohio, including operating a gambling house, money laundering, conspiracy and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Prosecutors said George and several others ran a gambling ring under the guise of charitable gambling. But, the group gave only a small percentage of the actual profits from tip-tickets to the charities, split profits with the bars that sold the tickets, paid people who should have been volunteers and laundered money, prosecutors said.

The state claimed George and his cohorts swindled the charities out of nearly $60 million.

A jury convicted George on eight of 11 charges. Ruehlman sentenced George to spend 25 years in prison.

During sentencing, an investigator for the Ohio Department of Public Safety testified that at least some of the money that George raised through the lottery had been linked to the militant terrorist groups.

Although the court ordered a retrial, thus vacating the prison term, Painter commented that the 25-year sentence was "questionable at best."

"We doubt it could be supported under Ohio's sentencing guidelines," Painter said.

Faced with allegations that he was sending money to Middle Eastern terrorist organizations, George should have been afforded the opportunity to respond, Painter said.

"It would be odd indeed if George, a third-generation American Catholic, would be involved with such groups," Painter said.

E-mail scoolidge@enquirer.com