With a federal court set to decide in the coming weeks whether their client will be extradited to Mexico to face trial for his wife's Cancun murder, the attorneys for former "Survivor" producer Bruce Beresford-Redman held a press conference Tuesday to "clear the air" about the case.
Attorneys Richard Hirsch and Vicki Podberesky conceded to reporters that Beresford-Redman and his wife, Monica, were having marital problems when they made their fateful trip to Cancun in April 2010, along with their two children.
The trip, the lawyers said at the afternoon West L.A. press conference, was intended to foster reconciliation after the husband's alleged affair, as well as celebrate Monica Beresford-Redman's birthday.
It ended tragically. Monica Beresford-Redman's dead body was found in a sewer near Cancun's Moon Palace Hotel. She had suffered a blow to the head and appeared to have been asphyxiated.
On Tuesday, Hirsch said it was absurd to think someone would book a trip in which they stay in a hotel room with their two small children only to plan to commit homicide.
The attorneys took direct aim at the case built by local authorities, noting that it's too supported by motive and lacks hard evidence.
They said a pair of foot prints found near the body do not match those of the suspect and that blood samples found in the hotel room have not been matched to him, either.
Further, the defense attorneys claimed that scratches on the Bruce Beresford-Redman's body resulted from outdoor activities. Also, they said the couple's 6-year-old daughter confirmed to her therapist that sounds of female distress, which witnesses said seemed to have come from the hotel room, could have resulted from family rough-housing.
The lawyers also brought up the issue of Beresford-Redman's safety should he be extradited to a prison system rife with local drug-cartel members.
Though confident in his client's innocence, Hirsh conceded, "We definitely have an uphill battle."
