Attorneys for a former "Survivor" producer charged with killing his wife in Mexico argued in court papers filed Monday that a judge ignored conflicting evidence while permitting his extradition to stand trial in that country.
The motion filed by lawyers for Bruce Beresford-Redman contends the extradition ruling should be overturned because there is no physical evidence to support returning the reality television producer to Cancun.
The filing accuses U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian of "culling through the facts and selecting those most supportive of probable cause while rejecting those which were exculpatory or did not fit the government's theory of culpability."
The Emmy-nominated producer has been jailed in Los Angeles since November on a fugitive warrant. Chooljian ruled in late July there was probable cause to support his extradition.
Beresford-Redman is accused of killing his wife Monica on a family vacation in April 2010.
His attorneys filed a petition for writ of habeus corpus in August arguing that his detention was not supported by facts in the case. The filing offered no details, but Monday's document attacks the credibility of several pieces of evidence and witness statements.
U.S. District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez will consider Beresford-Redman's petition.
Both federal prosecutors and the sisters of Monica Beresford-Redman have said they expect months of court and administrative proceedings before the producer is extradited. If he is convicted of aggravated homicide in Mexico, he faces 12 to 30 years in prison.
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 the judge was not swayed.
The filing states Mexican authorities found no blood evidence in the couple's hotel room and argued that investigators, prosecutors and Chooljian used the fact that the couple was experiencing marital problems due to an affair by Bruce Beresford-Redman to support the theory that he killed his wife.
Chooljian stated in her July written ruling that she had considered all evidence, but the facts supported the case against the producer.