Jury finds ex-politician guilty of murder of Las Vegas investigative reporter in 2022

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A jury in the U.S. state of Nevada has found a former Democratic politician from the Las Vegas area guilty of murdering an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in elected office.

Robert Telles hung his head and shook it slightly back and forth as the verdict was read in Clark County District Court on Wednesday. The jury deliberated for nearly 12 hours after eight days of evidence were heard in his trial, which began on August 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.”

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 Riots 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.

The 69-year-old German was a respected journalist who 44 years of reporting on crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas. About a dozen of his family members and friends watched the trial. They declined to comment.

Telles is an attorney who practiced civil law before being elected in 2018. After his arrest, his license to practice law was revoked.

Weckerly and Hamner presented 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photos, police reports and videos. Telles and five others testified for the defense. No family member of Telles was called to the stand or identified in the courtroom.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, German was the only journalist killed in the United States in 2022. The nonprofit organization has records of 17 media professionals killed in the USA since 1992.

____

Associated Press videographer Ty O'Neil contributed to this report.