LISBON, Portugal (AP) — An American killer and alleged hijacker who was a fugitive for 41 years should serve the rest of his jail time in Portugal where he was captured instead of being extradited to the United States, his lawyer says.

George Wright, 68, deserves to serve the remainder of his 15- to 30-year New Jersey murder sentence in Portugal because he has lived in the country for decades, has a Portuguese wife and grown Portuguese children, said the lawyer, Manuel Luis Ferreira.

“If he has to serve, then he wants it to be here, which is his home,” Ferreira told Portugal’s TVI television late Thursday.

Wright broke out of the Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey, on Aug. 19, 1970 after serving eight years for killing a man in a gas station robbery. He then was part of a Black Liberation Army group that hijacked a U.S. plane to Algeria in 1972.

Wright was captured in a seaside village near Lisbon on Monday after authorities matched his fingerprint on a Portuguese identity card to one in the United States.

The lawyer also said Wright will oppose extradition on the grounds that he fears reprisals for his past membership of a militant black group in the United States. He did not elaborate.