Watch live: Robert Telles' defense begins calling witnesses in Las Vegas journalist murder trial

Robert Telles, the former elected official of Clark County, Nevada, who is charged with murder in the Death of journalist Jeff Germanis expected to testify in his own defense. His testimony could come as early as Tuesday.

The defense is expected to begin calling witnesses on Tuesday after prosecutors stopped their argument on Monday after calling more than two dozen witnesses in four days. The former public administrator has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge and faces life in prison if convicted because prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

The public prosecutor accuses Tellesa Democrat, of “ambushing” and killing the reporter who had written several critical articles about the officer, a Nevada jury was told Monday. Hundreds of photos of German's home and neighborhood were found on Telles' cellphone and computer, prosecutors said, including an image of Telles' work computer with results of Internet searches through a password-protected site that asked for German's name, home address, vehicle license plate number and birth date.

Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors the photo was taken on August 23, 2022 – less than two weeks before German was stabbed and killed in the side yard of his home.

“This picture came from Mr. Telles' phone?” Hamner asked Matthew Hovanec, a digital forensics chief in Las Vegas who testified Monday about the “extraction” of the data from Telles' devices.

“That’s true,” Hovanec replied.

Detective Justine Gatus, the Las Vegas police's lead homicide investigator in German's death, was the key – and final – witness called Monday.

Gatus cited Las Vegas Review-Journal articles about Telles and the county office that German wrote and published in May and June 2022 that describe a county office in turmoil.

“You were not flattering,” the detective noted.

At the same time, in social media posts, Telles derided German and the articles as misrepresentations of his efforts to fight corruption within a political and social network of the real estate industry's “old guard.”

The 69-year-old journalist had reported on Las Vegas gangsters and government officials for 44 years, first for the Las Vegas Sun and then for the rival Review-Journal. before his death in 2022About 10 of his family members and friends were present each day of Telles' trial but did not speak publicly about the killing. They declined to comment Monday.

Telles insists he did not kill the German and he was accused of the crime.