Page:Brief for the United States, Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (1963).djvu/23

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son who realizes that he has been caught and may as well tell the truth.

B. In the case of Wong Sun's confession, the trial judge could properly conclude that his chronicle, from the time of his first acquaintance with Toy, in March 1959, through his series of visits with Toy at Yee's house, terminating in the visits on or about June 1 and 3, was sufficiently corroborated to be accepted. The critical portion of the confession, i.e., Wong Sun's statement that he transported an ounce of heroin from his source of supply to Toy on the night of May 31, 1959, and that he and Toy then transported the heroin to Yee at Yee's house at about midnight, is firmly supported by the actual possession of 27 grams of the heroin by Yee at Yee's house on the morning of June 4. The absence of a part of the ounce, and the division of the heroin into several containers after being brought to Yee's house in one container, substantiate the further portion of Wong Sun's confession that he and Toy had gone to Yee's house again on the night of June 3, smoked heroin, and taken one "paper" for their later use. In addition, there was corroboration of parts of the confession in Agent Nickoloff's testimony that Toy had admitted to him on June 4 that he had been at Yee's house the night before, as well as in the separate testimony of Yee showing that he knew Wong Sun.

C. Toy's confession, unlike that of Wong Sun, shows an effort on his part to withhold some of the facts. Like the accused in Opper v. United States, supra, 348 U.S. 84, he obviously sought to admit only what he thought could be proved against him by other