Commonwealth v. Ryan

CAVANAUGH, Judge:

This is an appeal by the Commonwealth from the lower court’s order of October 9, 1979, granting the defendants’ motions to suppress evidence.1 At issue here is which party has the initial burden of proof at a suppression hearing. We agree with the conclusion of the lower court that the Commonwealth bears the initial burden of establishing the admissibility of the challenged evidence, and also with its finding that the Commonwealth did not meet its requisite burden at defendants’ suppression hearing. However, we find that the court, having decided the burden of proof issue…