Former politician to testify in trial over murder of Las Vegas investigative journalist

LAS VEGAS (AP) — For two years — behind bars, in courtrooms, with reporters and judges — a former Las Vegas-area Democratic official insisted he wanted to tell his story to the jury that will decide whether he goes to prison or is released after the trial in the killing of an investigative journalist who wrote articles two years ago criticizing him and his workplace conduct.

On Wednesday, murder defendant Robert Telles will take his turn.

“He said he was going to tell his story. I expect he's going to tell that story tomorrow,” Telles' defense attorney Robert Draskovich told reporters after a court hearing Tuesday in which Telles told the Nevada judge presiding over his murder trial that he knew he was not obligated to testify.

After the jury left the courtroom, Clark County District Judge Michelle Leavitt questioned Telles directly for several minutes about whether he wanted to risk answering questions under oath from prosecutors who concluded their indictment against him on Monday after four days, 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photographs, police reports and video evidence.

“Mr. Telles, you understand that you have heard all the evidence the state intends to present in this case,” the judge said. “You do understand that you cannot be compelled to testify in this matter?”

“Yes, Your Honor,” replied Telles.

Draskovich and his co-counsel Michael Horvath said outside court that they had advised Telles not to testify, but he insisted.

The defense may call three more witnesses, Draskovich said, including one who could corroborate Telles' statement that he visited a local gym on the day of the murder. Telles is expected to be the last person called in the defense, the defense attorney said. No family members or character witnesses are scheduled. Telles' testimony could last more than a day.

“He is entitled to his defense,” Draskovich told reporters. “That is the defense he wants to present.”

Telles, a lawyer who was formerly a county administrator for unclaimed estates, has been in jail for nearly two years as he prepares for his trial. He has said he did not kill Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, but did not say during jailhouse interviews with the Associated Press and other media what he was doing the day German was killed.

His defense team called two witnesses on Tuesday. A clinical and forensic psychologist testified that cuts on Telles' wrists, found at his home when Las Vegas police arrested him, should not be interpreted as a sign of a guilty conscience. In response to a question from the judge, expert witness Mark Chambers acknowledged that such wounds could have been an attempt to elicit sympathy.

Also on Tuesday, a woman testified that she called police to report that she believed a person seen in a video on the news wearing orange clothing near German's home resembled a person she saw in a park a few days before the murder. She did not identify Telles in court.

Much of what the jury and the public have heard over the last week speaks against Telles.

His DNA was found under German's fingernails. His family ties were present to a maroon SUV that was spotted in German's neighborhood around the time German was killed. Police found hundreds of photos of German's house and several pages of German's identification cards on Telles' cellphone and computer, including time stamps showing they had been collected just weeks before the murder.

Inside Telles' home, police found cut-up pieces of a wide-brimmed straw hat and gray athletic shoes similar to those of a person seen on neighborhood surveillance video wearing an oversized orange long-sleeved shirt and carrying a large cloth bag, sneaking into the side yard of German's home before the reporter was ambushed and left dead in a pool of blood.

Robbery was not an obvious motive for the murder, prosecutors said. The jury heard that German's wallet, money, car keys and cell phone were still in his pants pockets. Everything was fine inside German's house, although his garage door was open. His neighbors across the street were stunned and sobbed on the witness stand as they recalled finding his body the next day.

Neither an orange shirt nor a murder weapon were presented as evidence.

Prosecutors allege Telles was motivated to murder after German wrote articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal about a county office in turmoil, including allegations that Telles had an inappropriate relationship with a female colleague. Telles lost his re-election as Clark County public administrator and guardian and taunted German and the newspaper on social media.

Telles complained that he had become a victim of a political and social “old” real estate network because he tried to fight the corruption he witnessed in his office. A detective in the police intelligence unit, Derek Jappe, who investigated these allegations, also became a key figure in Telles' arrest a few days after the murder. By questioning prosecution witnesses, Draskovich has shown that Telles believes Jappe manipulated the murder investigation against him.

“I'm all about justice, fairness and just being a good person,” Telles said in an audio interview with German that aired in May 2022 with a Review-Journal article about the public administrator's office. “It's unbelievable the lengths they'll go … to try to ruin my personal life.”

German covered Las Vegas mobsters and government officials for 44 years for the Las Vegas Sun and later for the larger Review-Journal. About 10 of his family members and friends were present each day of Telles' trial. They declined to speak to the media.

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