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Judges shoot hole in school gun law
Monday, November 15, 1999 By Michael Race
HARRISBURG -- A parent who was convicted of taking a handgun onto the grounds of a Cumberland County middle school three years ago has had his conviction tossed out by state Superior Court.
In a split decision, a panel of judges ruled last week that John J. Heidler III, of Luzerne County, did not violate a state law banning guns on school property because he did not have "constructive possession" of the weapon when he visited Lamberton Middle School in October 1996 to pick up his son.
Heidler admitted the handgun was taken onto school property, but it was in the purse of his girlfriend, who accompanied him to the school. The woman waited in a vehicle while Heidler went into the school to get his son.
Both Heidler and his girlfriend had permits to carry a concealed firearm, according to court records.
When Heidler arrived at the school, he was met by police officers, who served him with a protection from abuse order filed by his estranged wife. After police learned Heidler's gun was in his girlfriend's purse, they arrested him for violating the school gun ban.
A Cumberland County judge found Heidler guilty of violating the weapons ban, sentencing him to six months' unsupervised probation.
Heidler's lawyer appealed, arguing the state law was "unconstitutionally vague" and poorly written.
"I was pushing all along that this was a flawed law," attorney Karl Rominger said. The law was passed during a special legislative crime session in1995.
Rominger said his client did not have "constructive possession" of the gun because he had intentionally relinquished possession to his girlfriend before he arrived on school grounds.
Eight of the nine Superior Court judges who reviewed the case agreed. Judge Zoran Popovich, who wrote the majority opinion, said Heidler had "neither the power to control nor the intent to control the handgun."
"If it was his intention to retain control, he could have either kept the gun or put it in a place not under control of a third party," Popovich wrote.
But Judge J. Michael Eakin filed a tersely worded dissent, disputing the reasoning that Heidler managed to "dispossess" the gun by putting it in his girlfriend's purse. Rather, Eakin saw the move as an attempt to conceal the weapon.
"The one indisputable fact shown by his act is that he knew he shouldn't bring the gun to school," Eakin wrote. "He chose to do so anyhow, hidden in his companion's purse. Hiding that which is illegal does not make it legal."
Eakin also argued that Heidler's defense that he lacked "constructive possession" would not hold up in court if the case involved drugs rather than a gun. Nor would the defense work if Heidler were a student, Eakin said.
"If this were a student concealing a handgun in a classmate's purse, we would not hesitate to affirm the finding of constructive possession. Why is a parent different?" Eakin wrote in his dissent.
Rominger called the ruling an "important protection for gun owners and hunters across Pennsylvania."
Cumberland County District Attorney "Skip" Ebert could not be reached for comment last week on whether he would appeal the case to the state Supreme Court.
The decision marked the second time the Superior Court sided with Heidler. A three-judge panel of the court ruled 2-1 in his favor last February, prompting prosecutors to ask for a reargument before a nine-judge panel.
Michael Race is a reporter for capitolwire.com.
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