Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                   TAG: 9406090043
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE DISMISSES CHARGE OF HAVING GUN AT SCHOOL

The teen-ager's attorney successfully argued that the law against having firearms on school property is so poorly written that it's unclear whether having a gun in a coat pocket violates the statute.

General District Judge George Harris also noted the letters of support for Burke Rucker from family friends, a sports coach and a pastor.

``Young man, you came out very lucky on this,'' Harris said. ``There's a lot of people backing you up ... Don't make any more mistakes, and go on with with your life.''

Rucker, 18, brought the unloaded .22-caliber pistol to school Feb. 1. School officials were tipped off that he had it and confronted him. He showed them that the gun was in the outside pocket of his overcoat, which had been on top of a locker.

After the incident, Will Stacey, headmaster of the private school, said Rucker brought the gun to school after a disagreement with another student at an off-campus party. Stacey said Rucker wanted to let the other student know he had a weapon in case that student kept threatening him.

Rucker was expelled and charged under the felony law aimed at keeping guns off school grounds.

The law contains an exception for unloaded firearms in a ``closed container'' or unloaded shotguns and rifles in a vehicle gun rack.

Rucker's attorney, Jack Gregory, argued that the coat pocket was a closed container. It did not have a zipper or a button, but it did have a flap.

He cited a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that a coat pocket is a closed container.

Prosecutor Bill Broadhurst argued in court papers that the ruling did not apply to this case - and that it's absurd to suggest that state legislators intended to create an exception that would allow students ``to come to school with guns hidden in their clothing with nothing to do but slam a clip in the weapon in order to fire!''

People who wrote letters in support of Rucker described him as a polite, well-mannered young man - a ``perfect gentlemen, both gracious and considerate,'' one family friend said.

He has been getting instruction at home from a teacher since getting kicked out of North Cross. The teacher wrote the judge that Rucker is intelligent and hard-working and is working on not allowing his emotions to control his actions. Rucker has been accepted into college.