Former Wasilla Rep. Vic Kohring could get a new trial on the same crimes he was initially charged with if the Justice Department decides to retry him. That's the ruling Friday from a panel of three judges on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The judges vacated a ruling from the U.S. District Court for Alaska that had convicted Kohring on corruption charges. The Justice Department attorneys who prosecuted him were discredited for having suppressed information during another trial that led to the conviction of former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens.

After Stevens' conviction was tossed, Kohring appealed his guilty verdict, too, on identical grounds that the senator's lawyers had argued, namely that critical information had been withheld that could have changed the outcome of the trial.

The panel ruled 2-1 that Kohring should get a new trial based on the same indictment. The dissenting judge said he thought the initial charges should be thrown out altogether. Kohring did spend some time in federal prison but is free on appeal.

In the years since Kohring and several other lawmakers, including former House Speaker Pete Kott, were tried for corruption after a years-long federal investigation in Alaska called "Operation Polar Pen," information has come out about the government's key witnesses, who had paid off lawmakers for favorable votes during the 2006 Petroleum Profits Tax debate.

Bill Allen and Rick Smith were the founder and vice president, respectively, of VECO, an oil services support company that aimed to profit from the PPT debate. The feds were able to surreptitiously videotape Kohring taking money from Allen and Smith -- first in the Baranof Hotel suite 604, and then in a McDonald's bag that Allen testified was full of cash to pay off credit card bills for Kohring.

Kohring claimed they were "loans" from a "friend."

The government, after Stevens conviction was tossed, has disclosed "several thousand pages of documents … from interviews with Allen and Smith, e-mails, various memoranda and police reports."

Kohring appealed to the Ninth Circuit that the information revealed Allen "had been or was still being investigated for sexual misconduct with minors" and "evidence that cast doubt on Allen's memory and the amount of money paid to Kohring."

The appeals court also said that the Allen information produced "evidence that the payments were made out of friendship and pity rather than a corrupt 'quid-pro-quo relationship.'"

The Ninth Circuit said "we are left to decide the appropriate remedy" after the district court had acknowledged the suppressed information was favorable to Kohring but had denied his request for a new trial.

The appellate court ruling continued: "The government clearly should have disclosed a substantial amount of the information in question. However, we do not have sufficient evidence to conclude the prosecution 'acted flagrantly, willfully, and in bad faith'. … Nor are we able to conclude that the violations were a result of 'outrageous government conduct' that amounted 'to a due process violation' which warranted dismissal of the (original indictment)."

Kohring's convictions were vacated and the appellate court ordered a new trial under the same pretenses -- but with the new information -- back in Alaska U.S. District Court.

Former Alaska House Speaker Pete Kott has appealed his conviction on corruption charges on nearly identical grounds with the Ninth Circuit.

Contact Eric Christopher Adams at eric(at)alaskadispatch.com