LAS VEGAS (AP) — A jury in Nevada has found a Democratic former Las Vegas-area politician guilty of murder in the killing of an investigative journalist who wrote 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 stabbed to death in a side yard of his home over Labor Day weekend 2022.
Jurors now will hear evidence in the penalty phase of trial before deciding Telles’ sentence.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty. Telles faces life in prison without parole, life with parole eligibility at 20 years, or 20 to 50 years in prison.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said outside the courtroom that he was surprised by the length of time the jury deliberated but is confident jurors carefully considered evidence.
“The jury hit the ball out of the park this time,” he said. “They hit a home run by getting the right verdict.”
Telles denied killing German. He alleged a broad conspiracy of people 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.”
Telles’ wife and mother were in the court hallway and spoke with defense lawyer Robert Draskovich and co-counsel Michael Horvath after the verdict was read. They are expected to be called as character witnesses during the penalty hearing. Prosecutors planned to call German’s brother, Jay German, and two sisters, Jill Zwerg and Julie Smith.
Jessica Coleman, a coworker in the troubled county office who attended the trial, sobbed as she exited the courtroom after the verdict was read.
“Finally. Finally,” she said. “Finally the system is working.”
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.
He asked jurors to ask themselves, “What evidence is missing?”
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors that finding Telles guilty would be like “connecting the dots” based on overwhelming evidence they heard — including DNA that matched Telles found beneath German’s fingernails.
Hamner maintained 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, an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018, lost his primary for a second elected term after German’s stories appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May and June 2022. They described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and an employee.
Hamner said Telles 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 a side yard where German was attacked just after 11:15 a.m.
A little more than 2 minutes later, the figure in orange emerged and walked down a sidewalk. German did not reappear.
Evidence showed Telles’ wife sent him a text message about 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 took a walk and then went to a gym in the afternoon.
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 watched the trial. They’ve declined as a group to comment.
Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a statement within minutes of the verdict being read. It mourned German’s death and said the verdict “sends an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated.”
“It is vital that the murder of journalists should be taken seriously and perpetrators held accountable,” Jacobsen said.
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.
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Associated Press videographer Ty ONeil contributed to this report.
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