Jury finds ex-politician guilty of murder in 2022 killing of Las Vegas investigative reporter
LAS VEGAS — A jury in Nevada has found a Democratic former Las Vegas-area politician guilty of murder in the killing of an investigative journalist who had written articles critical of his conduct in elected office.
Robert Telles hung his head, shaking it slightly from side to side as the verdict was read Wednesday in Clark County District Court. Jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours after hearing eight days of evidence in his trial, which began Aug 12.
Telles, 47, has been jailed without bail since his arrest several days after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard of his home on Labor Day weekend 2022.
For the upcoming penalty phase of the trial, the jury that found Telles guilty may hear additional testimony and see more evidence before deciding what prison sentence he should receive. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. The judge will impose a sentence at a hearing scheduled at a later date.
A former Las Vegas-area elected official will represent himself at trial on a murder charge in the stabbing death of a veteran investigative journalist who wrote about him.
Telles, 47, could be sentenced to life in prison without parole, life with parole eligibility at 20 years, or 20 to 50 years in prison.
His additional conviction for use of a deadly weapon would add one to eight years to his sentence.
Telles denied killing German. He alleged a broad conspiracy of people had framed him for German’s killing in retaliation for his effort to root out corruption he saw in his office.
“I am not the kind of person who would stab someone. I didn’t kill Mr. German,†he testified. “And that’s my testimony.â€
Defense lawyer Robert Draskovich showed the jury an image during closing arguments Monday of a person whose profile didn’t look like Telles’ driving a maroon SUV that evidence showed was key to the crime. He noted that none of German’s blood or DNA was found on Telles, in his vehicle or at his home.
Draskovich urged jurors to ask themselves, “What evidence is missing?â€
The killing of Jeff German comes as U.S. reporters face increasing threats and violence, although not to the degree of journalists working overseas.
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors that finding Telles guilty would be like “connecting the dots†based on overwhelming evidence — including DNA that matched Telles’ found beneath German’s fingernails.
Hamner maintained that German had fought to the death with his attacker and that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Before the verdict, Todd Leventhal, a former prosecutor-turned-defense attorney in Las Vegas with more than 20 years of experience and no connection to the case, said he thought Draskovich’s closing made “at least one but maybe two†jurors question the evidence they received. Other jurors may be “detail-oriented and want to go through everything,†he said.
“They are taking their jobs as jurors serious and that’s fantastic,†Leventhal said. “Realistically there is no hurry, and the man is facing life in prison.â€
Telles lost his primary for a second elected term after German’s articles about him appeared in the Review-Journal in May and June 2022. The stories described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County public administrator and guardian’s office and a romantic relationship between Telles and an employee.
Investigators said that items worn by the suspected killer of reporter Jeff German were recovered from the home of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, who is charged with murder. They also said they found Telles’ DNA at the scene of the fatal stabbing.
Hamner said Telles had learned from county officials just hours before German was killed that the reporter was working on another story about that relationship.
Prosecutors presented a timeline and videos showing 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.
The SUV driver is seen wearing a bright-orange outfit similar to one worn by a person captured on camera walking to German’s home and slipping into the side yard where German was attacked just after 11:15 a.m.
A little more than two minutes later, the figure in orange emerges and walks down a sidewalk.
Evidence showed Telles’ wife sent him a text message about 10:30 a.m. asking, “Where are you?†Prosecutors said Telles had left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked. Telles told the jury he’d taken a walk and then went to a gym in the afternoon.
Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German’s articles preceded Robert Telles’ election loss. Telles was taken into custody Wednesday, wheeled out of his home with a self-inflicted injury.
German, 69, was a respected journalist who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas. About a dozen of his family members and friends have attended the trial. They’ve declined as a group to comment.
Telles is an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018. His law license was suspended following his arrest.
Prosecutors presented 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photos, police reports and video. Telles and five other people testified for the defense. None of Telles’ family members were called to the stand or identified in the trial gallery.
German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.
Ritter writes for the Associated Press. AP videographer Ty O’Neil contributed to this report.
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