The trial of Robert Telles began Wednesday with riveting opening statements from both the prosecution and defense teams. Telles, a former Las Vegas public official, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jeff German, an investigative reporter whose exposés highlighted Telles’ alleged inappropriate conduct, including an affair with an employee.
German’s murder, which took place over Labor Day weekend in 2022, sent shockwaves through Las Vegas and the global journalism community. Among the 69 reporters killed worldwide that year, German was the only journalist slain in the United States, as noted by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The courtroom was tense as the jury watched surveillance footage from a neighbor’s camera. The video showed an individual in a bright orange vest and straw hat slipping into the side yard of German’s house, a day before German was discovered dead there, having been stabbed multiple times.
“That person stays, lying in wait, for Jeff German,” prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the jury. “Mr. German opens his garage, goes into that side yard, and he is attacked.”
Though the camera did not capture the act of violence, it recorded the figure in the vest and straw hat leaving the scene after approximately two minutes, walking away down the driveway and onto the sidewalk.
Telles’s defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, portrayed his client as a devoted father and husband who had worked hard to put himself through law school and combat corruption in public administration. Draskovich challenged the prosecution’s case, suggesting that Telles could have been framed and that the police investigation was flawed, especially regarding the DNA evidence claimed to have been found under German’s fingernails.
“There will be a great deal of testimony concerning DNA,” noted Draskovich. “Inferences will be made, inferences will be drawn, and inferences will be attacked.”
Draskovich also highlighted that some police body-camera footage of Telles’ detention had been destroyed, raising the possibility that evidence could have been planted, including a straw hat found cut up in Telles’ garbage.
The trial’s emotional gravity deepened as the jury was shown autopsy photos of German. His throat had been cut and his light blue T-shirt was stained with blood. Around ten members of his family could be seen wiping away tears, while Telles stared at a monitor on the defense table.
German, 69, spent 44 years uncovering government corruption and organized crime in Las Vegas, working for both the Sun and Review-Journal newspapers. In May 2022, he began writing about Telles, who, as public administrator, oversaw the estates of residents who died without wills.
“This case is not about politics,” Weckerly concluded. “It’s not about an alleged inappropriate relationship. It’s not about being a good boss or a good supervisor or workplace favoritism. It’s just about murder.”
The trial is slated to continue on Thursday and Friday before resuming next week, when Telles may take the stand in his own defense. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty, but Telles faces life in prison if convicted.
