The death penalty was only used twice in New England for cases of sodomy. The first case is that of William Plaine of Guilford, who was executed in New Haven in 1646. The official charge was “unclean practices.” What was found during the trial was that Plaine had committed sodomy while in England. He was said to have “corrupted a great part of the youth…by masturbations, which he had committed and provoked others to the like above a hundred times.” One of the most interesting aspects of this trial is the fact that Plaine was not originally sentenced to execution. The governor’s consultants pressured the court to change the sentence to execution. There is no clear evidence as to why they did this. Some of the records from the trial suggest that Plaine may have been a repeat offender. There is also the possibility that he may have been seen as a problem element in the colony.


I am not related to this person, just passing on this information, which comes from an essay titled "Wickedness Breaks Forth." The link for the site is listed below.
Joyce

http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1999-2000/Chehardy.htm