Robert Telles, a former Clark County, Nevada, elected official, charged with murder in the Journalist Jeff German diesis expected to testify in his own defense. His testimony could come as early as Tuesday.
The defense is expected to begin calling witnesses Tuesday, after the prosecution rested its case Monday after calling more than two dozen witnesses in four days of testimony. The former public administrator has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. If convicted, he faces life in prison, as prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.
Prosecutors charged TellesA Nevada jury was told Monday that the Democrat “stalked” and killed the journalist, who had written several articles critical of the official. Hundreds of photos of German’s home and neighborhood were found on Telles’ cellphone and computer, prosecutors said, including an image from Telles’ work computer with the results of Internet searches through a password-protected site that retrieved German’s name, home address, vehicle registration and date of birth.
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors the photo was taken on Aug. 23, 2022, less than two weeks before German was slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard of his home.
“Is this image from Mr. Telles’ phone?” Hamner asked Matthew Hovanec, a Las Vegas digital forensics supervisor who testified Monday about “mining” data from Telles’ devices.
“That’s true,” Hovanec replied.
Detective Justine Gatus, the lead Las Vegas police homicide investigator in German’s death, was the main — and final — witness called Monday.
Gatus cited Las Vegas Review-Journal articles about Telles and the county office that German wrote, published in May and June 2022, about a county office in turmoil.
“They weren’t flattering,” the detective observed.
Telles’ social media posts have also derided German, and the articles have been called false descriptions of his efforts to combat corruption within an “old guard” political and social real estate network.
The 69-year-old journalist spent 44 years covering Las Vegas mobsters and government officials at the Las Vegas Sun and then the rival Review-Journal. before his death in 2022About a dozen family members and friends attended Telles’ trial each day but have not spoken publicly about the killing. They declined to comment on the case on Monday.
Telles claims he did not kill the German and was charged with the crime.
