The Georgia Court of Appeals has reversed gambling convictions of a 74-year-old restaurant owner whose family was forced into bankruptcy after the Macon circuit district attorney prosecuted him over the operation of nine coin-operated game machines.

Ronnie Bartlett, owner of the now-defunct Captain Jack’s Crab Shack in Peach County, was one of a string of defendants charged with gambling offenses by District Attorney David Cooke, but the first who chose to fight rather then enter a plea, said Bartlett’s attorney, Chris Anulewicz.