Sacco and Vanzetti

Sacco and Vanzetti

None of the seven eyewitnesses was at all times certain of his or her identification. Andrews and Pelser had told a defense investigator that they could not make identification. Splaine and Devlin only briefly saw a man leaning out of automobile from a distance of over 70 feet. None of the witnesses identified Sacco until well after his arrest. The witnesses were not required to pick Sacco out a line-up. Several of the closest witnesses to the crime were not able to identify Sacco. Two defense experts (Burns, Fitzgerald) testified that "Bullet 3" could not have been fired from Sacco's Colt. Sacco denied ever owning the cap, or any cap with earlaps. Sacco tried on the cap before the jury and claimed that it did not fit (the prosecutor claimed that it did). It is not known for sure that the cap found at the scene belonged to one of the murderers, and not to one of the crowd who gathered soon after the crime. Sacco and Vanzetti testified that the reason that they left Johnson's home without picking up Boda's car was that they discovered that the car did not have 1920 license plates. Sacco claimed to have been in Boston trying to get a passport from the Italian consulate on the day of the crime. After visiting the consulate, he said, he ate at Boni's Restaurant in Boston. Seven witnesses testified that they saw Sacco at the restaurant. Sacco testified that his lies during his initial police interview were because he feared that if he told the truth about his radical beliefs or admitted knowing radical friends, he would likely be deported.

No one claimed to have seen Vanzetti during the actual shooting. A defense witness testified that Levangie said a few minutes after the shooting that it would be hard to identify the man he had seen driving the car. Another witness testified that Levangie told him that he saw no one, while a third witness said Levangie initially said the driver was light-haired (Vanzetti is dark-haired). Vanzetti testified that he was selling fish in Plymouth (25 miles from Braintree) at the time of the crime. Six witnesses testify that they saw Vanzetti in Plymouth near the time of the crime. Vanzetti testified that he bought the gun from a friend (Falzini) a few months before his arrest. He said he bought it because he received cash from his fish peddling business and was concerned about recent hold-ups. Falzini testified that he sold the