Bartee Trial: Defense surprise

The prosecution rested its case Thursday in the trial of James Bartee at the Oconee County Courthouse. When it was the defense team’s turn, they sprang a surprise with two witnesses who rebutted that previous days testimony of Nick Blackwell. Blackwell, in a four-hour testimony on Wednesday, told the jury he wore a wiretap to a meeting at Bartee’s home in which plans to kidnap retired judge Jimmy Williams were discussed. On Thursday, two defense witnesses testified under oath that they were in attendance at Bartee’s home on the date in question and that kidnapping was never discussed. The question now becomes, will Bartee himself testify? The defense lawyer, Brannon, will tell the court at 9:00 am Friday he has one more witness and whether that witness will be Bartee. Stay with 96.3 WGOG and wgog.com for continuing developments.