Vilis HāznersDOJ INS Post-Trial Brief—Annotated

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events (e.g. one's first airplane ride or broken lag) continue at a relatively high level of intensity throughout one's life. The events about which the witnesses in this case testified were so frightening and extraordinary as to be unforgettable. 1The thirty years which have passed since they transpired are therefore of little significance in judging the reliability of the identification.

The Manson opinion did not mention corroborative evidence as a factor to be weighed in balancing suggestiveness against reliability, but other courts, including the Second Circuit, have done so. See, e.g., United States v. Williams, 575 F.2d 388 (2d Cir.) cert. denied, 99 S. Ct. 134 (1978); United States v. Green, 561 F.2d 423 (2d Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1018 (1978). The instant case abounds with corroborative testimony, the most important being the number of witnesses who identified Hazners: enough to be consistent with his role as a leader, too many for chance misidentification. Also, several of the witnesses heard Hazners' name either at the Prefecture or near the ghetto. 38/ Finally, Hazners was in the right place, at the right time 2and on the right side -- that of the Nazis -- to be doing what the witnesses said he was.