Congressional Hearing On 1960s Wall Murder

The Helsinki Commission, a Congressional commission headed by U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith, R-N.J., Wednesday afternoon is scheduled to hold a hearing on international fugitives, using the case of -- the escaped prisoner who was convicted of murdering a Wall gas station attendent in the 1960s and is now living in Portugal.

Among those scheduled to testify at the 2 p.m. hearing on Captiol Hill is Ann Patterson, of Howell, the daughter of Walter Patterson who was killed by a young George Wright at a Wall Township gas station in 1962 during a robbery.

The event will be streamed live here.

near the capital Lisbon last September, ending his four decades on the lam after escaping from a New Jersey prison.

that Wright had become a Portuguese citizen and that, under Portuguese law, the statute of limitations on his 15- to 30-year sentence for the robbery-murder in New Jersey had expired. It consequently refused to send him back to the U.S.

. But the ruling . .

Smith and , but so far Wright is still living in Portugal.