LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles federal judge on Wednesday upheld former reality show producer Bruce Beresford-Redman’s extradition to Mexico to face charges in his wife’s death.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez wrote that there are many pages of competent evidence supporting prosecution claims that the producer killed his wife during a family vacation in Mexico last year.
The Emmy-nominated producer of “Survivor” has been jailed in Los Angeles since November on a fugitive warrant.
His attorneys filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in August arguing that his detention was not supported by facts in the case. Gutierrez disagreed, saying all evidence points to a homicide committed by Beresford-Redman.
He cited “pages upon pages of competent evidence demonstrating that the fugitive committed the offense for which extradition was sought, namely the aggravated homicide of the victim.”
Gutierrez said materials presented to him documented “the infidelity, fighting, screaming from the hotel room, the fugitive’s opportunity to dispose of the victim’s body” and other evidence including scratches and abrasions fund on Beresford-Redman’s body and his flight to avoid arrest in Mexico.
“All of this evidence points to homicide committed by the fugitive,” said the judge’s two-page ruling.
Beresford-Redman’s attorney, Richard Hirsch, said he was weighing his options in the case and would make a statement later.
Hirsch could appeal the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If he does not appeal further, U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek said Mexico’s extradition request would be submitted to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for final disposition.
Prosecutors have presented statements from hotel guests who said they heard loud arguing and cries of distress coming from the couple’s room on the night Monica Beresford-Redman went missing. Her body was found days later in a sewer cistern not far from the room the couple shared with their young children.
The producer’s attorneys have claimed the noises came from Beresford-Redman and his children playing loud games throughout the night. They introduced statements from the couple’s 6-year-old daughter to corroborate the claim, but judges who have reviewed the case were not swayed.
If he is convicted of aggravated homicide in Mexico, Redman faces 12 to 30 years in a Mexican prison.
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