Murder trial of ex-politician accused of killing Vegas reporter features dueling opening statements

(CNN) — The murder trial of Robert Telles, the former Nevada politician accused of fatally stabbing a Las Vegas investigative journalist who had published stories critical of him, featured opening statements Wednesday with starkly different versions of what happened.

Telles, previously the Clark County Public Administrator, has pleaded not guilty to murder with use of a deadly weapon in the September 2022 death of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German.

In her opening statement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly laid out a timeline of the killing and the police investigation that quickly focused on Telles based on video and physical and DNA evidence.

“In the end, this case isn’t about politics. It’s not about alleged inappropriate relationships. It’s not about who’s a good boss or who’s a good supervisor or favoritism at work. It’s just about murder,” she said. “And at the end of the presentation of the evidence, we’ll ask you to hold him responsible for his conduct.”

In contrast, defense attorney Robert Draskovich indicated there was a conspiracy to pin the murder on Telles, saying his client was set up because he was “upsetting the apple cart” by trying to root out corruption in his public office.

“From the get-go, they are concerned with Robert Telles, and Robert Telles alone,” he said.

Telles plans to testify in his own defense, Draskovich previously told CNN affiliate KTNV.

The trial in Clark County comes nearly two years after the killing highlighted concerns about violence against journalists, even in the United States. There have been 14 journalists killed in the US since 1992, most recently a TV reporter who was fatally shot in Florida last year while covering an earlier shooting, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“When we say journalism is a dangerous business, we are most often talking about international crisis and foreign correspondents, but right here in a major city in the United States, we see the depth to which dark forces may sink in order to stop publication of the truth,” Jen Judson, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said in a joint statement shortly after German’s death.

German, 69, wrote about the underbelly of “Sin City” and had covered mobsters, crooked officials and corrupt government agencies in an ink-stained life. Yet prosecutors say it was his coverage of a little-known office run by an elected county official that led to the murder.

Prior to his death, German had written about allegations of wrongdoing in the Clark County Public Administrator’s office, reporting that Telles created a hostile work environment and carried on an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.

In response to the articles, Telles published posts on his campaign’s website and wrote a letter to German in which he called the allegations “false” and insisted German was trying to “drag me through the mud.” In June 2022, Telles lost his bid for reelection in a Democratic primary.

The reporter was found dead with multiple stab wounds outside his home on September 2, 2022. He was working on a story about Telles the week he was killed, according to the Review-Journal.

The indictment alleges the killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated,” and/or perpetrated by “lying in wait” for him.

Cut-up hat, shoes found in Telles’ home, prosecutors say

The prosecution’s opening statement laid out photos and videos that will be key evidence in the trial.

Surveillance videos from German’s neighborhood show a suspect wearing a large sunhat, orange jacket and gray Nike sneakers, and driving a maroon SUV.

Video from across German’s home shows the suspect hiding in the bushes on the side of the house and waiting for German to arrive, followed by lots of partially obscured movement. After a period, the video shows the suspect left the home but returned in the SUV, walked to the side of the house, and then left again in the direction of Telles’ neighborhood, prosecutors said.

The SUV belonged to Telles’ family, and a cut-up sunhat and cut-up gray Nike sneakers were found in a search of his house, according to prosecutors. Further, DNA from under German’s fingernails was consistent with Telles’ DNA, prosecutors said.

Investigators also examined Telles’ phone and found images from Google Maps of German’s house, prosecutors said.

Finally, prosecutors provided an explanation as to the timing and motivation of the killing: German had been reporting critically on Telles’ management, and Telles had received an email related to a public records request 15 hours before the murder, according to prosecutors.

For the defense, Draskovich began his opening statement by calling Telles a “family man” and highlighted his efforts to make changes at the Clark County Public Administrator’s office.

He said those changes angered an “Old Guard” at the office, leading a detective to conduct a bribery investigation into Telles. Surveillance and tracking of Telles’ cell phone showed the phone was at home at the time of the murder, Draskovich said.

Further, he challenged the quality of the police investigation and raised the possibility of a conspiracy. He said investigators did not find German’s blood on any of Telles’ items and questioned the damage to the hat and shoes.

“There is no rational explanation as to why the hat and shoes were cut into pieces, except that they would be easier to conceal and plant,” he said. “What’s important is there’s no blood on them. There’s nothing tying those articles found in Mr. Telles’ house to Jeff German.”

German was stabbed seven times, Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Scow said during Telles’ first court appearance in 2022. The DNA evidence was found under the journalist’s fingernails, he said, a detail that Justice of the Peace Elana Lee Graham called “quite chilling.”

“The defendant’s DNA is alleged to have been recovered from the hands of the victim, presumably during the time in which he was fighting for his life,” Graham said, noting German had several “defensive wounds on his hands and arms.”

In a hearing a month after Telles’ arrest, a judge granted Clark County’s motion seeking to have him removed from office.

The trial has been pushed back by several delays related to Telles’ representation and concerns related to access to German’s devices. Telles hired and fired three lawyers and for a time represented himself, according to KTNV.

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CNN’s Raja Razek contributed to this report.