Opening statements began on Wednesday in the trial of Robert Telles, a Las Vegas politician accused of killing Jeff German, a veteran investigative journalist, in 2022.
Prosecutors began the morning by presenting evidence, including the results of a DNA analysis, findings from a search of Telles’s home, footage from home security cameras and data from Telles’s phone.
The defense was expected to present its evidence later on Wednesday.
German, a journalist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had spent 44 years covering the city – its government and its courthouses – and organized crime. He had written several articles critical of Telles and his conduct as an elected official.
German, 69 at the time of his death, was found stabbed outside his home on Labor Day weekend in 2022.
The arrest of Telles, a Clark county public administrator, just days after the killing, sent shockwaves through the city and made national headlines.
A 12-person jury and several alternates were finalized as the trial began on Tuesday. Prosecutors say they will present strong physical evidence, including DNA believed to be from Telles found beneath German’s fingernails.
Telles, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murder and could face life in prison if convicted. He has said he didn’t kill German and was framed, and that police mishandled the investigation.
Heading into court on Monday for the first day of trial, Telles’s defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, called the case “difficult”, but said Telles looked forward to telling his story to a jury. That could come during defense testimony next week.
The killing sparked widespread outrage. Of the 69 news media workers killed across the world in 2022, German was the only journalist killed in the US, according to data by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Police quickly circulated video of a person wearing an orange work shirt and a wide straw hat walking toward German’s home on the day of the killing. Meanwhile, German’s colleagues at the newspaper immediately began investigating his death and uncovered vital information in the case. Police also released images of a distinctive maroon SUV like one that a Review-Journal photographer saw Telles washing outside his home days after the killing.
Telles, who was responsible for overseeing the estates of county residents who died without leaving a will, was arrested the day after the video was released and has been jailed ever since.
In court on Wednesday, prosecutors shared photos of evidence police retrieved from Telles’s home while executing a search warrant, including a duffle bag, straw hat and pair of shoes that had been cut into pieces matching those worn by the assailant captured on video. They also shared that Telles’s DNA had been found to be “consistent” with that found under German’s fingernails. After those results were returned, prosecutors shared that police attempted to take Telles into custody, but found he had severely injured himself and required hospitalization.
“In the end, this case isn’t about politics. It’s not about alleged inappropriate relationships. It’s not about who’s a good boss or who’s a good supervisor, or favoritism at work. It’s just about murder,” said Pamela Weckerly, attorney for the prosecution.
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Prosecutors say articles that German wrote for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in early 2022 about Telles and a county office in turmoil provided a motive for the killing. In articles published earlier in the year, German reported that Telles had allegedly bullied his staff and had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. He lost a bid for re-election shortly after the first story was published.
Telles, a lawyer, ran as a Democrat in 2018, positioning himself as a reformer, to become the Clark county administrator of estates.
The Clark county district attorney, Steve Wolfson, who knew German, said in a statement Monday: “The state of Nevada is looking forward, on behalf of Jeff and his family, to finally seeing that justice is achieved.” Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
German’s relatives have not spoken publicly about the killing and declined through a family spokesperson and friend to comment on the trial.
Progress toward the trial was delayed in part by a legal battle the Review-Journal took to the state supreme court to protect public disclosure of confidential sources on German’s cellphone and computers.
