The U.S. Supreme Court took another hit in the case to extradite a fugitive who escaped prison in 1970 after serving a portion of his sentence for killing a New Jersey man.
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Portugal's Supreme Court shot down the United States' request to extradite George Wright, keeping the convicted murderer in the land that he now calls his home. The statute of limitations on Wright's case has expired because he escaped more than four decades ago.
George Wright, 68, who was convicted of killing a New Jersey father of two in 1962, was serving a prison sentence of 30 years when he escaped in 1970. Wright was on the run for two years, until he joined the Black Liberation Army, hijacked a plane and directed it to Algeria. The plane was originally scheduled to fly from Detroit to Miami. Wright and his accomplices requested $1 million from the FBI to release the passengers. The FBI ultimately captured all of his accomplices but not him.
For the next 40 years, Wright lived in Portugal, where he married, had two children and changed his name to Jorge Luis Dos Santos. A tip eventually led U.S. authorities in September to Portugal, where Wright was fingerprinted and U.S. agents identified him as their missing man.
The U.S. had been seeking to have Wright serve the remainder of his 15- to 30-year sentence.
Read more at the Los Angeles Times.
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