Court turns back Bartee appeal request

A man who campaigned for Oconee Sheriff but then was arrested, convicted and sent to prison struck out in an attempt to have a higher court review whether there were irregularities during his trial. In a one-page notice, the state Supreme Court last year rejected a writ of certiorari filed for James Bartee. Bartee was convicted in 2012 in the Oconee General Sessions Court  of solicitation to commit a felony in a failed plot to kidnap a judge who was presiding over a case that challenged Bartee’s qualifications for the ballot to run for Sheriff. The request to the Supreme Court to consider Bartee’s appeal was denied in an order issued by the court on August 22, 2017. Bartee gained an early release from a sentence that amounted to five years imprisonment.