Posted on 12/23/2011 9:30:56 AM PST by ruralvoter
Portugal's Supreme Court has refused a request to extradite convicted killer and fugitive George Wright back to the U.S., his lawyer said Thursday.
Wright's lawyer Manuel Luis Ferreira said the court rejected an appeal by the U.S. against a lower court's decision that denied extradition a month ago.
Mr Ferreira said: 'The Supreme Court has denied the appeal. They notified me today.'
The U.S. can now appeal to Portugal's Constitutional Court if it wants to.
Mr Ferreira said he did not have details of the ruling. In Portugal, extradition cases are conducted in secret.
Mr Ferreira said Wright intends to remain in Portugal.
A Lisbon judge decided against Wright's extradition in November, two months after he was captured in Portugal following four decades on the run.
The U.S. Justice Department filed an appeal less than two weeks later.
Supreme Court officials weren't available to comment after office hours Thursday, and the U.S. Justice Department did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Americans should boycott Portugal. I was intending to visit there this spring. Not anymore.
Portugal has their reasons for refusing to extradite the man. The courts of other nations often take into account if a criminal has reformed and then if there would be a constructive purpose met by incarcerating the person. American justice is typically more about retribution than justice or redemption and we need to accept that not everyone sees things the way we do. Likewise, the USA refuses to extradite people to foreign countries for crimes that we don’t necessarily see as crimes. As is our right. Likewise if our sovereignty is to be respected then we need to respect the sovereignty of friendly nations like Portugal.
I think he needs to see inside the prison walls of New Jersey once again !
“American justice is typically more about retribution than justice or redemption and we need to accept that not everyone sees things the way we do.”
Isn’t murder, jail breaking, aircraft hijacking, extortion, criminal flight, and a few other things a good enough reason for most civilized countries?
I can’t help but strongly suspect that there was a significant amount of wheeling and dealing “below the radar” to insure that Mr. Wright would remain free despite his extensive criminal history.
And now he’s stressed about the possibility of his extradition?
Poor baby.
Where is the “justice” for the relatives of the slain?
I kind of agree with what you say here. Don’t get me wrong though, this a-hole should have been hanged for what he did all those years ago, but Portugal does have the right to operate according to their own laws. In any case, he is their problem and at least the US taxpayer isn’t footing the bill for his upkeep...
He cannot return to this country.
He is Portugals problem. They can have him.
And Welcome, can we ship about a thousand more of these fine Black Panther a-holes over to them?
“Isn’t murder, jail breaking, aircraft hijacking, extortion, criminal flight, and a few other things a good enough reason for most civilized countries?”
I agree. However, given the history of the USA in the 1960’s I can appreciate a European court having qualms about the conviction of a black man for just about anything in the USA of that period.
Playing Devil’s Advocate, if the man were convicted of a crime he did not commit as a means of silencing an ‘uppity (black person)’ then he’d have been politically oppressed and his hijack of an aircraft in order to escape the USA would be perceived as a rational act by another country.
By comparison, how many Russians stole or hijacked aircraft in order to escape to the USA during the Cold War? Should we have blithely sent them back because what they did was a crime in the USSR? Or did we reserve the right to evaluate their act on our own?
I do not know the particulars of this man’s original conviction but given that black men were routinely killed on the street back then for things they didn’t do it is then not inconceivable that his original conviction was politically or racially motivated.
Then, even if true, the court in Portugal will weigh the actions of this man over the past 50 years and see if he is reformed. If he is then there is no constructive purpose to be met by sending him to jail effectively for the rest of his life.
So... immediately cut off ALL foreign aid to Portugal.
“I do not know the particulars of this man’s original conviction but given that black men were routinely killed on the street back then for things they didn’t do it is then not inconceivable that his original conviction was politically or racially motivated.”
It’s easy enough to find the particulars. Here’s a fairly good synopsis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wright_%28criminal%29
Why are you defending this street thug turned leftist media darling without doing the slightest amount of background research first? It also sounds as if you weren’t around during the whole Black Panther era. I was, living the San Francisco Bay Area. I remember it vividly, the assaults, the drugs, the murders, all wrapped up in a very thin veneer of a (arguably) justifiable social uprising.
Along with other such notables as Mumia Abdul Jabbar and Daniel Ortega, these types became the idols of the moneyed liberal left for some bizarre reason. This is also the time when graffiti vandals were suddenly pronounced “artists”, and we’ve lived the blighted results ever since.
Maybe it was something in the urban water supplies of liberal enclaves that created this madness?
In any event, Wright was nothing more than a New Jersey street thug who indulged in armed robberies. When involved in a murder during one such hold up, he was sentenced to prison. He escaped, and found refuge in Algeria as a Black Panther after engaging in some air piracy.
To me, this was nothing more than criminality wrapped up in opportunistic political posturing and radical chic. And has absolutely nothing to do with the history of race relations in America, IMHO.
Remember Holder’s position on prosecuting black people-”it demeans my people”. The DOJ’s stated policy is to NOT prosecute anyone that might “demean” Holder’s people. That’s not in dispute.
In sum, the Portuguese Supreme Court obviously has the same questions I do. And I thank God that there are courts outside of this country that will make independent decisions because, you never know, you and I may end up needing them someday if we can’t get Obama out of the White House.
Let him stay over there and kill and rob them then. It won’t be long before he returns to his trade, if he hasn’t already. They deserve each other.
Oh bull$hit!!! The man committed an armed robbery, murder, prison escape, highjacking an airplane, kidnapping 80 some people and extorting a million bucks. He did seven years for all of that. You call that justice?
And since the hijacking he’s clearly stayed out of trouble, he’s obtained Portuguese citizenship, and he’s not in the USA anymore. Right now regardless of any other consideration he is not our problem.
So what constructive purpose is there in imprisoning an old man for crimes that took place forty and fifty years ago?
Again, I mean no offense, but it is the vindictive nature of our current culture and legal system that is probably causing the Portuguese Supreme Court to reject our extradition request. And then it is the patently bigoted nature of US criminal justice from decades ago that is factoring into questions about the original conviction.
Seriously, if this man is sent back to the USA it will mean a virtual death sentence. Is that what you want?
You have no credibility because of ignorant comments like the one you made stating that black men were routinely killed in the streets for crimes that they didn’t do.
At anyrate, following your line of thought, if I can avoid capture for some arbitrary number of years I should not have to pay for my acts. Incarceration has more than one point. Rehabilitation is one. Another is punishment. Yes, good old fashioned punishment for wrong deeds. Even for a poor oppressed minority. So I believe that if you commit armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, escape and extortion you should be hung, but failing that, as New Jersey clearly did, then you should serve more than seven years. Now I understand that people like you don’t believe that. Fine. Go to the next parole board hearing in your area and volunteer to let the rapists and murderers that want out a room in your house, providing of course, that they haven’t raped or murdered anyone for some arbitrary number of years.
I really hope that you aren’t ever allowed to serve on any jury. You, and your fellow travellers, are a policeman and prosecutor’s worst nightmare.
“You have no credibility because of ignorant comments like the one you made stating that black men were routinely killed in the streets for crimes that they didn’t do.”
Nearly 3,500 African Americans were lynched in the United States between 1882 and 1968. That’s about one racially motivated murder per week for eighty six years.
Perhaps ‘routinely’ was the wrong word. Would you be happier with ‘frequently’?
Your logic excuses Germans who left for other parts after WWII. Do you realize that?
The “Mikey did it” defense is absurd and illogical.
If we look at anyone’s familial history, there’ll be something there somewhere that was not punished, or, was punished for no good reason. Even yours.
“At anyrate, following your line of thought, if I can avoid capture for some arbitrary number of years I should not have to pay for my acts.”
That’s not my thought. It’s a legal principle called a ‘statute of limitations’ and in US law the principle is inherent in the Sixth Amendment which was apparently put together by a bunch of bleeding heart liberals from Columbia University.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.