Former Las Vegas politician disputes DNA evidence in murder trial
A former Las Vegas Democratic politician contested DNA evidence used against him in the murder trial of a veteran journalist, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024.
Jury deliberations have begun in the trial of a Las Vegas Democratic politician charged with killing an investigative journalist who was penning critical stories about the official.
Robert Telles, 47, on trial for killing Jeff German in 2022, had faced a tough round of questioning during cross-examinations on Thursday, when prosecutor Pamela Weckerly presented him with a surprise text message sent from his wife that had vanished from his phone.
Telles maintained his innocence throughout his testimony, alleging that office colleagues, real estate agents, business owners and police had tried to frame him for killing German in retaliation for his crusading effort to root out corruption he saw as head of an obscure office that handles unclaimed estates.
Former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, who is accused of murdering investigative reporter Jeff German, argues in court during a hearing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal, File)
"I am not the kind of person who would stab someone. I didn't kill Mr. German," Telles said. "And that's my testimony."
Telles had already lost his Democratic primary for a second term following German's first series of stories for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May 2022. They described turmoil and bullying in Telles' workplace and an affair between Telles and a female employee.
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The day before German was stabbed to death, Telles learned that Clark County officials were about to provide German with email and text messages that Telles and the woman shared, in response to the reporter's request for public records.
"The murder is the very next day... about 15 hours later," prosecutor Pamela Weckerly said as she presented to the jury a timeline and videos of Telles' maroon SUV leaving the neighborhood near his home a little after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving on streets near German's home a short time later.
Robert Telles is sworn in on the witness stand on the eighth day of his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Wednesday, August 21, 2024. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)
The SUV driver was seen wearing a bright orange outfit similar to one worn by a person captured on camera walking to German's home and slipping into a side yard.
"That person stays, lying in wait," Weckerly said, playing again a video from a neighbor's home showing German's garage door rise and German walk into the side yard where he was attacked.
About two minutes later a figure in orange emerges and walks down a sidewalk. German does not reappear.
The prosecutor said evidence showed the killing was first-degree murder because it was willful, deliberate and premeditated. While prosecutors did not have the murder weapon, she said evidence clearly proved that one was used.
German's body was found the next day, and Telles' DNA was found beneath German's fingernails. When asked about the DNA, Telles said he believed it was planted.
The jury heard about cut-up pieces of a broad straw hat and a gray athletic shoe found at Telles' house that looked like ones worn by the person wearing the orange shirt, which was never found.
Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, right, talks to Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in his Las Vegas office, on May 11, 2022. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
"You are the sole judges of the facts," Draskovich told the jury during his closing arguments before the panel was pared to 12, broke for lunch and began just before 2 p.m. to deliberate whether they all believe Telles murdered German.
Telles’ testimony on Friday came the day German would have turned 71. Originally from Milwaukee, he was a respected journalist who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
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Telles is an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018. His law license was suspended following his arrest several days after German was killed. He faces up to life in prison if he is found guilty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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