Surprising text addresses murder trial of ex-politician accused of killing Las Vegas reporter – Lowell Sun

By KEN RITTER

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A surprising text message ended Thursday's questioning of a former politician from the Las Vegas area by prosecutors. The defendant is on trial for the killing of an experienced investigative journalist. The day had previously been spent with at times confused witness statements in which the defendant had stated that he had never killed anyone.

In a quiet courtroom, before a rapt jury considering a murder conviction, prosecutor Christopher Hamner asked defendant Robert Telles to read a note saying Telles' wife had wondered where he was when reporter Jeff German was ambushed and killed outside his home nearly two years ago.

“It says, 'Where are you?'” Telles replied.

Telles previously testified that he ignored several text, email and voice messages while he was at home, taking a walk and then going to the gym on the day of German's murder. Prosecutors have suggested he left the phone at home when he carried out a carefully planned fatal attack on the journalist.

Hamner focused on cellphone records presented Wednesday by a defense witness that did not list the text message from Telles' wife. The prosecutor said the text message was found separately on her Apple Watch.

Telles acknowledged Thursday that as the owner of the phone, he could have deleted the message, but he did not admit that he had done so.

Hamner noted that the time – 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022 – was the time when surveillance video presented to the jury earlier showed a maroon SUV that Telles admitted looked exactly like his in German's neighborhood. It was driven by a person wearing an orange outfit and a large straw hat. Telles himself referred to that person several times Thursday as German's killer.

Where Telles was when German was fatally attacked has been a central question since the beginning of the trial – including during Telles' unusual two-and-a-half-hour stream-of-consciousness testimony.

Telles, a former Democratic administrator of a Clark County office that handles unclaimed estates, has spent nearly two years in prison since his arrest in connection with German's murder. He denies killing German and faces up to life in prison if convicted.

He will return to the witness stand on Friday to have the prosecution rebut the police officers he cited in his testimony. There will also be a second round of self-testimony and possibly another round of follow-up questioning by prosecutors.

His lawyer, Robert Draskovich, said on Thursday that no further witnesses were planned for the defense.

Both sides said they expect closing arguments on Monday, two weeks after jury selection begins.

Draskovich hinted at a behind-the-scenes dispute with his client on Tuesday when he received permission from the judge to have Telles testify “as a narrator,” a departure from the usual question-and-answer format.

Telles told the jury that he had been framed for German's death by a network of “old” political and social realtors who had opposed his efforts to combat corruption in his office.

“The way Mr. German was murdered … speaks to me that someone or something knows what they're doing,” he testified. “You know, the idea that Mr. German had his throat cut and his heart pierced.”

“I'm not the type of person who would stab someone,” Telles said at the end of his monologue on Thursday. “I did not kill Mr. German. And that is my statement.”

Telles is accused of plotting the murder of 69-year-old German, a respected journalist who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Sin City after German wrote several articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal about a county office that had fallen into turmoil under Telles' leadership.

Those stories included claims that Telles had been in a romantic relationship with a female co-worker. On Thursday, Telles admitted for the first time that those reports were true. German was working on another report about that relationship when he was killed.

Telles, 47, is a lawyer who practiced civil law before his 2018 election. His law license was suspended following his arrest a few days after German's murder. He lost his 2022 Democratic primary for a second term.

Hamner and prosecutor Pamela Weckerly dropped the charges on Monday after four days, 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photographs, police reports and video evidence.

Under questioning by Hamner on Thursday, Telles said he could not explain how or why his DNA was found under German's fingernails. Autopsy photos show knife or cut marks on German's arms, which police say were caused by German's fight for his life.

Telles said he did not know how the people who allegedly accused him of murder were able to plant key pieces of evidence in his home, including cut-up pieces of a wide-brimmed straw hat and a gray athletic shoe. Similar items were worn by the person in orange seen on surveillance video near German's home before the reporter was ambushed and killed.

Hamner acknowledged that two key pieces of evidence were never found: the orange work shirt and the knife used to attack German. He wondered why people trying to frame Telles left them out of the evidence.

“Why didn't you hide the murder weapon in your house?” asked Hamner. “Does that make any sense?”

“I don’t know,” Telles replied.

Originally published: August 22, 2024 at 16:49