Robert Telles verdict: Las Vegas Democratic politician accused of murdering journalist found guilty

A jury on Wednesday convicted a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician on charges of murder in the killing of an investigative journalist who had written critical articles about him.

Jurors began deliberating Monday to determine whether they agree with prosecutors’ claims that Robert Telles, 47, stabbed veteran investigative journalist Jeff German to death in September 2022, just months after German wrote critical articles about Telles and his workplace conduct, including allegations of an inappropriate romantic relationship with a co-worker.

The Las Vegas jury will deliberate for about four hours Monday before recessing for the night. The panel, made up of seven women and five men, deliberated for about six hours Tuesday after a two-week trial. Attorneys presented closing arguments Monday morning.

On Monday, they sent the judge a note requesting more note paper and a court technician to show them how to zoom in on a laptop video while in the jury room.

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Prosecutor Christopher Hamner said during closing arguments Monday that German had not finished his job of exposing Telles, ultimately leading the politician to remove the veteran journalist.

Telles lost his Democratic primary for a second term after German published his first articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May 2022 about Telles’ conduct as head of a shadowy county office that handles unclaimed property. He practiced civil law before being elected in 2018 and his law license was suspended following his arrest several days after German’s killing.

“And he did it because Jeff wasn’t finished writing,” Hamner said. “It’s like connecting the dots. He murdered him because Jeff’s writing destroyed his career. It destroyed his reputation. It probably threatened his marriage. It exposed things that even he admitted he didn’t want the public to know.”

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Defense attorney Robert Draskovich argued that the prosecution’s case did not meet legal standards and reminded jurors of Telles’ argument on the stand that he was being framed for fighting corruption in the industry. He has maintained his innocence.

“Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest standard in this country,” Draskovich said. “It’s not about presumption, it’s about preponderance of the evidence. It’s not about clear and convincing, it’s about proof and reasonable doubt. This concept was borrowed from old English common law. Our founding fathers thought it would be better to let 10 guilty men go free than to wrongfully convict one innocent person.”

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, German was the only journalist killed in the United States in 2022.

The day before German was stabbed to death, Telles learned that Clark County officials were about to provide German with email and text messages that Telles and the woman had shared, in response to the reporter’s public records request. Another story was on the horizon, Hamner said.

The next day, a German was killed.

Prosecutors say Telles accused German of writing stories that destroyed her career, ruined her reputation and threatened her marriage.

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German was found stabbed to death in a side yard outside his home, where Telles is accused in a criminal complaint of “lying in wait” for German to leave.

Telles was arrested days after police circulated a video of a person wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat carrying a bag over his shoulder and walking toward German’s home.

Prosecutors said they presented strong evidence, including DNA believed to be Telles’ found under German’s fingernails and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and shoes found in Telles’ home that resembled those worn by the person seen on video outside German’s home.

Hamner acknowledged that two key pieces of evidence — the orange work shirt and the knife used to attack German — were never found. He questioned why those seeking to incriminate Telles would have left them out of the inventory of evidence.

During the trial, the jury heard that Telles had hundreds of photos of German’s home and neighborhood on his cell phone and computer.

Other photos taken from Telles’ devices included an image of a gray sneaker with a distinctive black pattern and a shot of Telles’ work computer at the Clark County Public Administrator and Guardian’s office with internet search results through a password-protected site that retrieved German’s name, home address, vehicle registration number and date of birth.

Hamner told jurors the photo was taken on Aug. 23, 2022, less than two weeks before German was found dead in a pool of blood.

Police also released images of a distinctive brown SUV, like the one a Review-Journal photographer saw Telles washing outside his home several days after the killing. It was driven by a person wearing an orange suit and a large straw hat.

Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly presented a timeline and videos of Telles’ brown SUV leaving the neighborhood near his home shortly after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving through streets near German’s home a short time later.

The driver of the pickup truck was seen wearing a bright orange suit similar to one worn by a person caught on camera walking up to German’s home and sliding into a side yard.

Telles himself referred several times in court to that person as German’s murderer.

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A discovered text message, reportedly deleted from his phone but recovered via his wife’s Apple Watch, shrouded the mystery of the defendant’s alibi as the message shows her asking him where he was at the time of the murder.

Prosecutors told jurors they believe Telles was unresponsive because he left his cellphone — and its ability to track him — at home.

On Monday, a dozen members of the German family sat together in silence in the quiet courtroom. Telles faces life in prison if convicted.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.