Current:Home > ScamsJury returns to deliberations in trial of former politician accused of killing Las Vegas reporter -WealthMindset Learning
Jury returns to deliberations in trial of former politician accused of killing Las Vegas reporter
SignalHub View
Date:2025-04-06 11:01:46
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada jury returned to deliberations Wednesday in the murder trial of a Democratic ex-politician accused of killing a Las Vegas investigative journalist two years ago over stories the reporter wrote about the official’s conduct in public office two years ago.
Work for the panel of seven women and five men to reach a verdict resumed after eight days of trial and more than 10 hours behind closed doors Monday and Tuesday in Clark County District Court.
Robert Telles is accused of stabbing reporter Jeff German to death in a side yard of German’s home on Labor Day weekend 2022 after he wrote stories about Telles and the county office that handles unclaimed estates.
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.”
Defense lawyer Robert 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 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 emerges and walks down a sidewalk. German does 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 have watched the trial. They’ve declined as a group to comment.
Telles, 47, is an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018. His law license was suspended following his arrest. He faces up to life in prison if he’s found guilty.
Weckerly and Hamner presented 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photos, police reports and video. Telles and five other people testified for the defense. No Telles family members were called to the stand or identified in the trial gallery.
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.
veryGood! (9)
Related
- 2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
- Colorado releases 5 wolves in reintroduction program approved by voters
- Lawsuits take aim at use of AI tool by health insurance companies to process claims
- Charmed’s Holly Marie Combs Confirms Alyssa Milano Got Shannen Doherty Fired
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Afghan student made a plea for his uninvited homeland at U.N. climate summit
- 400,000 homes, businesses without power as storm bears down on Northeast: See power outage maps
- Seahawks vs. Eagles Monday Night Football highlights: Drew Lock, Julian Love lift Seattle
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- A new normal? 6 stories about the evolving U.S. COVID response in 2023
Ranking
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- The best movies and TV of 2023, picked for you by NPR critics
- Alabama coach Nick Saban addresses Michigan's sign-stealing case ahead of Rose Bowl matchup
- A volcano in Iceland erupts weeks after thousands were evacuated from a nearby town
- 'Vanderpump Rules' star DJ James Kennedy arrested on domestic violence charges
- Mining company agrees with court decision ordering Guatemala to grant property rights to community
- Ottawa Senators fire coach D.J. Smith, name Jacques Martin interim coach
- Michigan law students work to clear man convicted of stealing beer
Recommendation
John Galliano out at Maison Margiela, capping year of fashion designer musical chairs
Pregnant Suki Waterhouse Fuels Robert Pattinson Engagement Rumors With Ring on That Finger
Robbers' getaway car stolen as they're robbing Colorado check chasing store, police say
Mold free: Tomatoes lost for 8 months on space station are missing something in NASA photo
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
'It looks like a living organism': California man's mysterious photo captures imagination
Actor Jonathan Majors receives mixed verdict in criminal domestic violence trial
Feel alone? Check out these quotes on what it’s been like to be human in 2023