State v. Gray, 7410SC100

• Decision Date: 06 March 1974
• Docket Number: No. 7410SC100,7410SC100
• Citation: 203 S.E.2d 88,21 N.C.App. 63
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Willie Steve GRAY.
• Court: North Carolina Court of Appeals

Page 88

203 S.E.2d 88

21 N.C.App. 63

STATE of North Carolina v. Willie Steve GRAY.

No. 7410SC100.

Court of Appeals of North Carolina.

March 6, 1974.

Atty. Gen. Robert Morgan, by Associate Atty. Keith L. Jarvis, Raleigh, for the State.

Theodore A. Nodell, J., Raleigh, for defendant appellant.

BALEY, Judge.

All of the assignments of error are based upon the following portion of the charge of the court to which defendant takes exception:

I will tell you a little more about this Law later on. I guess I will just tell you about it right now. The crime of sodomy comes from the name Sodom.

'You recall in the Old Testament in the 18th Chapter of Genesis, the Lord appeared to Abraham, and the Lord said he was going to destroy the City of Sodom and Gomorrah, evil and wicked place.

'And then Abraham replied, as you recall, said, will you destroy the good people, along with the wicked?

'Well, he said, he reckoned he would, but then suppose there are fifty I can produce, fifty righteous people, will you destroy them. He said, no, I won't.

'Well, Abraham couldn't produce them; couldn't do it. And he said forty and five, and he couldn't do it. Forty, then thirty and five, then thirty, then twenty and five, then twenty; and finally bargained down to ten. And he could not produce ten.

'So, the Lord said, told Abraham that he would have to destroy the City. And the angels of the Lord went into the City and communicated with Lot and his wife. They were good people.

'And the net result of that was, that Lot was given the word to his wife and two daughters that they could go and flee, which they did.

'And on the next morning, you will recall, that the Lord told Lot and his wife and children that if anybody looked back on the City, after fire and brimstone, as it was destroyed as the Bible said by fire and brimstone, if anybody looked back on the City, they would be turned to a pillar of salt.

'Lot's wife could not restrain herself, as a lot of people haven't been able to restrain curiosity; curiosity killed the cat, but she couldn't restrain herself and looked back, and she turned to a pillar of salt, and that was the end of Lot's wife.

'The only reason I repeat that, is because of the word, it comes to us from the Bible, from that place of Sodom and Gomorrah.'

Defendant contends that the court by this explanation of the historical derivation of the word 'sodomy' has intimated an opinion concerning the guilt or innocence of the defendant and that the court felt defendant should be punished as...