Commonwealth v. Coto

opinion by

McCaffery, j.:

¶ 1 Appellant, Kohath Thaddaeus Coto, appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed following his guilty plea conviction for the offense of firearms not to be carried without a license. 1 The issue we confront is which party, if any, bears the burden of proof on the grading of this offense at sentencing. For the reasons set forth below, we hold that license eligibility is a matter of sentencing mitigation subject to proof by the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence. After careful review, we conclude that the sentencing court in this case properly graded…