NATION : Violator of Ga. Sodomy Law Freed

DECATUR, Ga. —  A judge today ordered state officials to release a carpenter who has been jailed for 18 months under the state’s 156-year-old sodomy law after he admitted having oral sex with his wife.

DeKalb County Superior Judge Robert Castellani ordered the state to free James Moseley on his own recognizance until it can be determined if he should have a new trial or if his conviction should be overturned.

Moseley, 35, was convicted in February, 1988, on one charge of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison after he testified that he engaged in oral sex with Bette Roberts, his common-law wife of four years. The couple have since divorced and Roberts won custody of their two children.

Sodomy, even between a consenting husband and wife, is a felony in Georgia.