State v. Arnette

ORR, Judge.

Defendant contends that the sentencing judge erred in refusing to find and consider several statutory mitigating factors, which defendant argues were proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

A refusal to find a statutory mitigating factor supported by uncontradicted and credible evidence is reversible error. State v. Jones, 309 N.C. 214, 306 S.E. 2d 451 (1983). The defendant, however, bears the burden of proving the existence of a factor by the preponderance of the evidence and convincing the sentencing judge “that ‘the evidence so clearly establishes the fact in issue that no…