The ruling allows the case against Bruce Beresford-Redman to be sent to the U.S. State Department to make the final determination on Mexico's extradition request, said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The badly beaten body of Beresford-Redman's wife, Monica, was found in a sewer at a resort hotel in Cancun, Mexico, where the couple and their children were vacationing in April 2010.

Mexican authorities contend the couple had an argument, Bruce beat her to death, then dumped her body.

Attorneys for Beresford-Redman had asked U.S. District Judge Philip Gutierrez to overturn another judge's decision in July that the former "Survivor" producer should be extradited.

But Gutierrez on Wednesday denied that request and, in a two-page opinion, cited "pages upon pages" of evidence against Beresford-Redman.

That includes reports of screams heard from the couple's Cancun hotel room, the fact her body was found 25 meters from the room, scratches on Beresford-Redman's body and his flight from Mexico, the judge wrote.

Stephen Jaffe, a spokesman for the defense attorneys, said in a statement they are "weighing their options with Mr. Beresford-Redman regarding the future."

One option for the defense team is filing a habeas petition with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Mrozek said.

Beresford-Redman denies the homicide charge against him and

maintains he is innocent.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Jerry Norton)

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