“Affirmed in part, granted in part and remanded”

A former Oconeean in prison for life appears to have won a partial victory at appeal.  The state Supreme Court this week both upheld and vacated parts of an earlier bid by James Randy Frady to win relief at the post-conviction level.  The high court denied 15 grounds of Frady’s previous appeal, but could not make a judgment on six others—including the prisoner’s allegation that his attorney, during his trial, failed to pursue plea negotiations that could have been advantageous to his case.  In a letter attached to the case file, Frady apprises Oconee Clerk of Court Beverly Whitfield of the Supreme Court ruling and requests her office to contact the Public Defender’s Office to arrange defense counsel for the new post-conviction relief hearing. At the age of 42 in 2006, Frady was convicted on two counts of murder and other charges and sentenced to life in prison.  The crimes occurred near Walhalla.  At trial, the prosecution presented a circumstantial case that Frady stole a van, broke into the home where his father and brother lived, shot them to death, and then attempted to burn the evidence.  Nineteen years earlier, Frady won a directed verdict of acquittal in another shooting death that occurred at a pig picking at the Chattooga River.