Joran van der Sloot once again has asked for an extension on pretrial deadlines, including whether or not he will plead guilty or move forward through the court process.

Van der Sloat already has waived his right to a speedy trial and has been granted one extension. His attorney on Monday filed a motion seeking another.

“The Eleventh Circuit has repeatedly recognized that a continuance to provide adequate preparation by counsel serves the ends of justice,” wrote attorney Kevin Butler of the Northern District of Alabama’s Office of the Federal Defender.

Although van der Sloot, now 35, has long been suspected in the disappearance and death of the Mountain Brook High School graduate Natalee Holloway while she was visiting Aruba in 2005, he has never been charged in connection to her death.

However, federal authorities in Alabama contend that in 2010 van der Sloot exploited the fear of Holloway’s mother, Beth, that she would never find her daughter’s body or know what happened to her unless she paid him $250,000.

A federal grand jury in Birmingham indicted van der Sloot on June 30, 2010, on charges of wire fraud and extortion.

Van der Sloot and his attorney are asking for a 45-day extension. Butler’s motion states that prosecutors do not object.

Van der Sloot remains held in the Shelby County Jail.

Van der Sloot on June 8 was extradited from Peru, where he is serving 28 years for the 2010 murder of college student Stephany Flores, to Alabama. The following day, he made his initial appearance in court and pleaded not guilty to the wire fraud and extortion charges.

The case is being prosecuted by Lloyd Peeples, chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Criminal Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Crosby.

Prosecutors contend that van der Sloot told Holloway for an initial payment of $25,000, he would take the Holloway’s representative to the location of Natalee’s body. Once the body was recovered and confirmed to be Natalee, he said, he would then collect the remaining $225,000.

The affidavit said Natalee Holloway died after Joran van der Sloot threw her to the ground when she attempted to stop him from leaving her.

The affidavit also says that his late father, Paulus van der Sloot, then helped him dispose of her body.

Van der Sloot told a representative for Beth Holloway that his father buried her remains in the gravel under the foundation of the single-story house.

He later admitted to the representative that he lied about the location of Natalee’s remains.

As of 5 p.m., there had been ruling on the extension request.