I like your post, you don't seem like a bad guy. I hope you're unbanned as long as you read the rules and make sure you're good with them. (Though I know nothing of any past offenses, I'm only going from this one thing.) If you do get unbanned you can keep the armour, it's all cool. Advice from me: Get to know the rules well.
His story is pretty much spot on, though I was right next to him when he logged out. He did nothing else bad, didn't try to log before this or anything, he just logged that one time when he had the chance. Though the problem here is I hadn't hit him in a while, but I was still right behind him. Also, in this guys defence, I couldn't actually find the rule addressing PvP logging, is this just me derping?
tl;dr Make sure you know the rules from now on, if you get unbanned keep your armour, no worries.
As for users posting in appeal threads, I figure as a person that was involved what I say can be valuable if it's wanted or needed, otherwise just disregard this post.
Good luck.