Posted on: August 14, 2024, 08:40h.
Last updated on: August 14, 2024, 08:55h.
The trial of Robert Telles began Wednesday with opening statements from the prosecution and defense teams. The former Las Vegas elected official pleaded not guilty to murdering Jeff German, the investigative reporter whose stories took Telles to task for inappropriate conduct that included an alleged affair with an employee.
German’s murder, which occurred over Labor Day weekend in 2022, shocked both Las Vegas and the world of journalism. German was among 69 reporters slain in the world that year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the only one in the US.
The jury watched surveillance video from a neighbor showing a person wearing a bright orange vest and straw hat slipping into the side yard of German’s house 24 hours before he was found stabbed to death in that yard.
“That person stays, lying in wait, for Jeff German,” prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told jurors. “Mr. German opens his garage, goes into that side yard, and he is attacked.”
The camera doesn’t capture the attack itself, but shows the person in the vest and straw hat emerging from the scene of the crime after two minutes, at which point he walks down the driveway and away on the sidewalk.
Telles’s attorney, Robert Draskovich, followed with his statement. He called Telles, 47, a “loving father and husband” who put himself through law school and worked to fight corruption in public administration.
He also questioned the strength of the prosecution’s case, suggesting that Telles may have been framed and that police mishandled their investigation — including the DNA from Telles they claim to have found under German’s fingernails.
“There will be a great deal of testimony concerning DNA,” Draskovich said. “Inferences will be made, inferences will be drawn, and inferences will be attacked.”
The defense attorney also noted that some of the police body-camera footage of Telles’ detention was destroyed, and suggested that some evidence may have been planted at Telles’ home, such as a straw hat found cut up in the garbage.
The first images of German the jury got to see were his autopsy photos. His throat was cut and blood stained his light blue T-shirt. About 10 members of his family wiped away tears as Telles watched a monitor on the defense table.
German, 69, spent 44 years covering government corruption and organized crime in Las Vegas, both for the Sun and Review-Journal newspapers. He began writing about Telles, whose job was to oversee the estates of residents who died without leaving a will, in May 2022.
“In the end, this case is not about politics,” Weckerly wrapped up her statement. “It’s not about an alleged inappropriate relationship. It’s not about who’s a good boss or who’s a good supervisor or favoritism at work.
“It’s just about murder.”
The case is expected to continue Thursday and Friday, then resume next week, when Telles may take the stand in his own defense.
Prosecutors aren’t seeking the death penalty, so Telles faces life in prison if convicted.
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