RALEIGH - Citing a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Wake County prosecutors dropped charges Friday against a pair of Raleigh men charged with having sex in private.

Nelson Keith Sloan, 39, and Ryan Christopher Flynn, 25, were each charged with crimes against nature last Saturday after Sloan called police to report that he was assaulted by Flynn.

No sexual assault charges were filed, but Flynn did face a second charge of simple assault for biting Sloan on the lip.

Assistant District Attorney Adam Moyers concluded that any acts between the men were consensual and private.

"I am grateful that the DA's office has a better understanding of the Constitution than the Raleigh Police Department," Sloan said in a prepared statement Friday. "However, as long as this law remains on the books, it is a crime punishable by an arrest, a stay in jail, media attention and a fine of $450."

Sloan had to pay $450 to get released from jail.

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that made homosexual acts a crime.

Sodomy laws remain on the books in North Carolina, Moyers said.

"But so does cohabitation," he added, referring to another rarely enforced rule that outlaws unmarried couples living together.

Shortly after the 2003 decision, Raleigh Police Department attorney Dawn Bryant told officers they could keep charging people with crimes against nature for committing the acts in public places -- but not in private.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue said Friday that the distinction would be reinforced among officers.

Some North Carolina district attorneys have stopped prosecuting crimes against nature. State Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, a Carrboro Democrat and lawyer, has tried for years to rescind the statute.

"I press it every year," she said shortly after the arrests. "It would be politically difficult, but that doesn't matter. It's unconstitutional."

Through a spokesman Friday, Sloan said he knew Flynn because they work at the same shopping center.

Last weekend, Raleigh police described the incident as consensual sex that got out of hand.

Joe Furmick, the veteran Wake County magistrate who booked Sloan, said at the time that enforcing the law isn't his call.

"I couldn't care less what these guys do," he said. "I'm with the old Victorian lady who said, 'I don't care what people do as long as they don't do it in the street and scare the horses.' But you don't want me to decide which laws to enforce and which not to. My opinion shouldn't enter into it."

Records show that Sloan's bond was $3,000. He paid $450 for his release -- the typical 15 percent bondsman's fee. He wants a refund, but that could be difficult.

"That's betwixt him and his bondsman," Moyers said.

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