Former Las Vegas politician found guilty in stabbing attack on investigative journalist – Whittier Daily News

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS – A Nevada jury has found a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician guilty of murdering an investigative journalist who wrote articles criticizing his conduct in elected office.

Robert Telles hung his head and shook it slightly from side to side as the verdict was read in Clark County District Court on Wednesday. Jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours after hearing eight days of evidence in his trial, which began Aug. 12.

Telles, 47, has been in jail without bail since his arrest, several days after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found stabbed to death in a side yard of his home over Labor Day weekend 2022.

The jury will now hear evidence during the sentencing phase before deciding on Telles' sentence.

Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Telles faces life without parole, life with the possibility of parole after 20 years, or a prison sentence of 20 to 50 years.

Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said outside the courtroom that he was surprised at how long the jury deliberated, but was confident the jury had carefully considered the evidence.

“The jury hit the nail on the head this time,” he said. “They hit a home run with the right verdict.”

Robert Telles (right), a former Clark County public administrator charged with murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. With Telles are his attorneys Robert Draskovich (left) and Michael Horvath. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged with murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, returns to the courtroom during jury deliberations in his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

An evidence photo is shown during closing arguments for the defense in the murder trial of Robert Telles at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Telles, a former Clark County public administrator, is charged with murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Hamner delivers his closing argument in the murder trial of Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged with the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich delivers his closing argument in the murder trial of Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged with the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

District Judge Michelle Leavitt speaks during a hearing on a jury question during deliberations in the murder trial of Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged with the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

FILE – Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, right, talks with Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in his office in Las Vegas on May 11, 2022. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

An evidence photo is shown during closing arguments by the defense in the murder trial of Robert Telles at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. Telles, a former Clark County public administrator, is charged with the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

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Robert Telles (right), a former Clark County public administrator charged with murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. With Telles are his attorneys Robert Draskovich (left) and Michael Horvath. (KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool)

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Telles denied killing German, claiming that a vast conspiracy framed him for German's killing in retaliation for his efforts to root out corruption in his office.

“I'm not the type of person who would stab someone. I did not kill Mr. German,” he testified. “And that is my statement.”

Telles' wife and mother were in the courtroom and spoke with defense attorney Robert Draskovich and his co-counsel Michael Horvath after the verdict was announced. They are expected to be called as character witnesses during the sentencing hearing. Prosecutors planned to call German's brother, Jay German, and his two sisters, Jill Zwerg and Julie Smith.

Jessica Coleman, a colleague from the troubled district office who attended the trial, sobbed as she left the courtroom after the verdict was announced.

“Finally. Finally,” she said. “Finally the system works.”

Draskovich showed the jury a picture of a person whose profile did not resemble Telles' during closing arguments Monday, driving a maroon SUV that evidence shows was key to the crime. He noted that no blood or DNA from German was found on Telles, in his vehicle or at his home.

He asked the jury to ask themselves: “What evidence is missing?”

Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors that finding Telles guilty was like “connecting the dots” based on the overwhelming evidence they had heard, including DNA matching Telles' found under German's fingernails.

Hamner insisted that German fought to the death with his attacker and that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.

Telles lost his primary for a second term after German's stories appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May and June 2022. They described turmoil and bullying in the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian's office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a co-worker.

Hamner said Telles learned from county officials just hours before German's murder that the reporter was working on another story about the relationship.

Prosecutors presented a timeline and videos showing Telles' maroon SUV leaving the neighborhood near his home shortly after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving on streets near German's home a short time later.

The driver of the SUV is seen wearing a bright orange outfit similar to that of a person seen on camera walking to German's home and slipping into a side yard where German was attacked shortly after 11:15 a.m.

A little over two minutes later, the figure in orange appeared, walking down a sidewalk. German did not reappear.

Evidence showed that Telles' wife texted him around 10:30 a.m. asking “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn't be tracked. Telles told the jury he went for a walk and went to a gym in the afternoon.

German, 69, was a respected journalist who covered crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas for 44 years. About a dozen of his family members and friends followed the trial. They declined to comment.