Case of Ex-Clark County Administrator Accused of Murdering Journalist Begins

Former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles’ trial finally began Wednesday with opening statements from the defense and prosecution. 

The former elected official pleaded not guilty to murdering Jeff German, an experienced investigative reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal found stabbed to death outside his home on Labor Day weekend in 2022.

The trial was partially delayed because the Review-Journal asked the state supreme court to protect German’s confidential sources from his cell phone and computers.

Possible Motive Indicated by Prosecutors 

German, who had spent more than four decades covering the city’s courthouses, government, and organized crime, wrote four articles criticizing the public administrator responsible for overseeing the estates of residents who passed away without leaving a will behind.

Namely, the veteran reporter looked into the 2018-elected politician’s inappropriate, hostile conduct that included bullying office employees and an alleged affair with a subordinate. 

As a result of German’s first story being published, Telles lost his primary re-election bid.

According to prosecutors, the respective articles offered Telles a motive for the killing.

At the time of his passing on September 2, 2022, outside his home in Nevada, the 69-year-old journalist was on the verge of publishing another article on Telles.

Telles’s arrest came a few days after the killing, shocking the city and making national headlines, especially since it was the only murder case involving a journalist in the US in 2022, according to data from the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Telles Claims He Was Framed by Police 

Just five days after the murder, police questioned Telles and started executing search warrants. 

Detectives took DNA from Telles which matched the samples taken from under the victim’s fingernails and discovered a straw sunhat that had been cut into pieces inside his garage.

As a surveillance video has shown, an individual wearing a straw sunhat and an orange reflective shirt approached the journalist’s yard, getting in through a gate.

The same video showed German falling to the ground.

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich who described his client as a “loving father and husband” and “a self-made man” whose purpose was to eradicate corruption in public administration, suggested the police might have framed Telles, questioning the strength of the evidence presented by the prosecution. 

Draskovich argued no blood from the crime scene had been discovered on any of the items that the police retrieved from his client’s home. 

He also claimed some of the footage from the police body camera of Telles’ detention had been destroyed, suggesting some evidence may have been planted at his client’s home, including the straw hat.

Moreover, according to data from his phone, Telles was home when the murder took place.

The attorney implied Telles had been framed by officials who did not agree with his decisions while he was in office. 

Telles, who has been booked into the Clark County Detention Center in 2022 and indicted by a grand jury for murder with the use of a deadly weapon, is currently facing a life sentence.

Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson, who knew the journalist, commented the state was “looking forward, on behalf of Jeff and his family, to finally seeing that justice is achieved.” 

Prosecutors are not looking to obtain the death penalty for Telles. 

Attorney for the prosecution Pamela Weckerly explained that, ultimately, the case is not about politics, “alleged inappropriate relationships”, or “who’s a good boss or who’s a good supervisor, or favoritism at work”, but “about murder”.

The case is scheduled to continue on Thursday and Friday and resume next week, when the suspect may take the stand.