George Wright's new identity was given to him by West African country Guinea-Bissau when it granted him political asylum in the 1980s and was accepted by Portugal, his attorney said
An exterior view of the house where wanted U.S. citizen George Edward Wright lived for more than 20 years, in Casas Novas, Sintra, Portugal, police said. Wright, one of the most wanted U.S. criminals, was captured in Portugal after 41 years on the run. LISBON, Portugal — Captured American fugitive George Wright will claim a new identity to prevent the U.S. from extraditing him, his lawyer said today.
Wright, 68, became a Portuguese citizen, called Jose Luis Jorge dos Santos, in 1991 after marrying a Portuguese woman, lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira told The Associated Press.
Ferreira said in an interview that Wright's new identity was given to him by West African country Guinea-Bissau when it granted him political asylum in the 1980s and was accepted by Portugal.
The U.S. is trying to extradite Wright to serve the remainder of his 15- to 30-year sentence for a 1962 murder in New Jersey. He had served more than seven years before breaking out of prison in 1970.
George Wright in a 1963 mugshot.But Ferreira said his client insists he has the right to serve the time in Portugal because he has Portuguese citizenship based on his new identity.
"As a Portuguese citizen, if he has to answer to any authority or if he has to serve any sentence, it has to be to Portuguese authorities and in Portuguese territory," Ferreira said.
Ferreira also hopes to persuade the Lisbon judge hearing the case to allow Wright to serve any outstanding jail time in his adopted country because that is where his wife and grown son and daughter live.
Ferreira is due to present his written arguments to the judge on Thursday.
Wright broke out of the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, on Aug. 19, 1970, after serving more than seven years of his sentence for killing a man in a 1962 gas station robbery. He was also part of a Black Liberation Army group that hijacked a U.S. plane to Algeria in 1972.
U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney, reached via email, declined to comment on Ferreira's arguments.
Wright was captured in a seaside village near Lisbon on Monday and is detained while the court rules on his case. Until his arrest, Wright spent decades living with his Portuguese family near Lisbon.
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