Page:Brief for the United States, Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (1963).djvu/31

 opportunity for judgment. The question is always whether under the particular circumstances the agents acted reasonably.

In this case, agent Wong was dealing with a person (Hom Way) whose character he had had an opportunity to appraise. The court of appeals observed that there was "no showing in this case that the agent knew Hom Way to be reliable" (R. 139-140). However, the federal officer testified that he had known Hom Way for six weeks and judged him to be reliable. It was not incumbent on the prosecution to develop in the first instance all the detailed mental