LOS ANGELES (AP) - An attorney for a reality TV producer jailed on suspicion of killing his wife in Mexico claims his arrest is unconstitutional and that he should be released immediately.
Former “Survivor” producer Bruce Beresford-Redman has been in custody since Nov. 16, when federal agents arrested him on a fugitive warrant. He has been charged in Mexico with aggravated homicide and is accused of killing his wife during a vacation at a swank Cancun resort in April.
He is due in court Monday afternoon to argue for his release, either on bail or because his arrest was improper.
Attorney Richard Hirsch argued in a court filing Monday that prosecutors did not file the proper information to secure an arrest warrant and that his detention is unconstitutional. It is the first legal salvo in what is expected to be a lengthy fight to block the producer’s extradition to Mexico.
Prosecutors in a federal court in Los Angeles filed a motion approved by a judge stating that hotel guests and workers in Cancun heard and saw the couple arguing and that traces of blood were found in a hotel room they were sharing with their young children.
Hirsch has attacked the Mexican investigation and said the producer should be freed while he fights extradition, which could take up to a year.
“There are many discrepancies between their opinions and the physical evidence obtained in the case,” Hirsch said after a hearing earlier this month.
Beresford-Redman’s attorneys are apparently arguing that he should be released so he can care and provide for his children, and that he has no prior criminal history and is an upstanding citizen, according to a filing by prosecutors. The producer’s attorney filed their arguments, along with several letters of support from friends, under seal.
The prosecution filing states many of the letters were written in the summer, before it laid out some of the potential evidence.
Prosecutors want the judge to reject the request for bail. They argue that the producer left Mexico after surrendering his passport and being told to remain there.
“He has every incentive to flee and no incentive to stay, and he has demonstrated an ability to cross international borders without proper documentation,” prosecutors wrote in a brief filed Monday.
Beresford-Redman, who is also a co-creator of “Pimp My Ride,” has not yet entered a plea, but he and his attorneys have denied the allegations.
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