Final lines in trial against ex-politician for murder of investigative journalist from Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A jury hearing a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician who claimed that evidence — including DNA evidence linking him to the killing of an investigative journalist — was tampered with, planted or false — and that he was the victim of a vast conspiracy — will hear closing arguments Monday.

Robert Telles will not return to the witness stand until the jury of seven men and seven women is reduced to 12. They will have to decide whether they all believe Telles stabbed, slashed and murdered longtime Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. Two are being named as alternates.

“I'm not crazy. I'm not trying to avoid responsibility,” Telles told them Friday to end his second and final round of self-directed testimony before the prosecution and defense concluded their closing arguments. “I did not kill Mr. German and I am innocent.”

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 Las Vegas after German wrote several articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal about a county office that fell into turmoil under Telles' leadership.

Those stories included allegations that Telles had a romantic relationship with a female co-worker, which Telles admitted for the first time Thursday. 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 His law license was revoked after his arrest days after German's murder. He lost his 2022 Democratic primary for a second term and mocked German and the Review-Journal on social media afterward.

“I wasn't happy about it,” Telles told prosecutor Christopher Hamner, referring to the articles. “I don't know if I ever hated him,” he said of German.

If found guilty, Telles faces life imprisonment.

The jury was attentive throughout the trial, watching Telles on the witness stand for two days. He spoke softly, said he had waited two years in prison to tell his story, shifted in his seat, rested his chin on one hand and then the other, and stammered haltingly from subject to subject and dementia to dementia.

He named office colleagues, real estate agents and business owners whom he accused of framing him for German's killing, saying it was retaliation for his fight against corruption as the elected head of the district office that handles unclaimed estate and probate cases.

Telles spoke directly to the jury using a narrative approach, relieving defense attorney Robert Draskovich of the responsibility of leading him in the usual question-and-answer format.

“I'm not the type of person who could brutally murder another man,” Telles said Friday, “and then go to the gym and then pick up my kids. I can't imagine being that kind of person.”

Where Telles was when German was killed was the focus of debate for two weeks as prosecutors Pamela Weckerly and Hamner presented 28 witnesses and hundreds of pages of photographs, police reports and videos.

Key testimony Friday focused on a text message from his wife asking “where are you?” that Hamner quoted late Thursday. It was found on a police photo of Telles' wife's Apple Watch and shows a time of approximately 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022 — roughly the time evidence shows German was killed.

Hamner had suspected that the message might have been deleted from Telles' phone. But on Friday, Matthew Hovanec, head of digital forensics for the Las Vegas Police Department, testified that there was no way to determine whether the message had been deleted.

Telles and five other people testified for the defense during the trial. No family member of Telles was called to the witness stand or identified in the courtroom.

One of the witnesses was a forensic cell phone data analyst. Another was a forensic psychologist who testified that the self-inflicted cuts on Telles' wrists when he was found in a bathtub at home and arrested by police should not be interpreted as evidence of guilt. They may have been an attempt to elicit sympathy, he said.

In the courtroom, about ten German family members sat together in silence throughout the trial. Every day they refused to make a joint comment.

The killing attracted widespread attention. 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 workers killed in the United States since 1992.

Jurors heard that a maroon SUV resembling a vehicle owned by the Telles family was seen in German's neighborhood around the time German was fatally stabbed in a side yard of his home. It was the Friday before Labor Day weekend 2022.

The driver of the SUV was seen wearing a bright orange outfit that resembled that of a person caught on camera walking toward German's house and disappearing into a side yard.

“This individual stays and lies in wait for Jeff German,” Weckerly said, showing a video during opening statements on August 14. “Mr. German opens his garage, goes into the side yard and is attacked.”

German's body was found the next day and Telles' DNA was found under German's fingernails. When asked about this DNA, Telles said he believed it had been planted.

Telles himself had previously expressed his horror to the jury at the “ugly” manner in which the 69-year-old investigative journalist was killed.

“You know, the idea that Mr. German's throat was cut and his heart was pierced. … I'm not the type of person that would stab somebody. I did not kill Mr. German,” Telles said. “And that's my statement.”

The jury heard about cut-up pieces of a wide-brimmed straw hat and a gray athletic shoe found in Telles' home that resembled those worn by the person in the orange outfit. The orange shirt and a murder weapon were never found.

The prosecutor on Friday listed several people and entities Telles referred to in his testimony – a real estate company, detectives, the Clark County district attorney, DNA analysts, former colleagues and others – and asked Telles if he believed they were all involved in “a grand conspiracy” to have German murdered and pin the blame on Telles.

“I don't know,” Telles said, nodding as each person's name was mentioned. “I can't rule it out. Can you rule it out? I can't say who's involved and who's not.”

“At the end of the day, you’re just the victim, aren’t you?” asked Hamner.

“Yes,” said Telles and nodded again.