Jury selection begins for trial of ex-politician accused of killing Las Vegas investigative reporter

LAS VEGAS — (AP) — The trial of a Las Vegas-area politician accused of killing an investigative reporter who wrote articles critical of him began Monday, after the judge denied the defendant's last request to dismiss the case and jury selection began.

The death of reporter Jeff German after 44 years developing deep confidential sources in the city, its government and its courthouses, and the arrest several days later of Robert Telles, the elected public official accused of killing him, stunned Sin City and the world of journalism.

“It turned everything upside down," said Tom Pitaro, a veteran Las Vegas defense attorney who knew German well and also taught Telles in law school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a decade ago. "I think people are in shock about how this could come about.”

Heading into court on Monday, Telles' defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, called the case “difficult," but said Telles looked forward to telling his story to a jury that prosecutors and defense attorneys intend to choose from 300 people who received written questionnaires asking what they had heard about the case.

Telles has pleaded not guilty to open murder and could face life in prison if convicted. He has remained jailed for almost two years while preparing for trial. He has said he didn't kill German, but did not say during jailhouse interviews with The Associated Press and other media what he was doing the day German was attacked and killed.

Telles has not provided a statement to police, other than “three surreptitious recordings the day of his arrest,” his attorney said. He maintains he has been framed and that police mishandled the investigation.

“He’s pretty adamant that he wants to tell his story,” Draskovich told the AP.

Prosecutors Pamela Weckerly and Christopher Hamner have declined outside court to comment about the case. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, who also knew German, said in a statement Monday that “the state of Nevada is looking forward, on behalf of Jeff and his family, to finally seeing that justice is achieved."

The killing on Labor Day weekend 2022 drew widespread attention. German, 69, became the only journalist killed in the U.S. among at least 67 news media workers slain worldwide that year, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Originally from Milwaukee, German was widely respected for reporting about courts, organized crime, government corruption, political scandals and mass shootings, first at the Las Vegas Sun and then at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Prosecutors say articles that he wrote for the Review-Journal in early 2022 about Telles and a county office in turmoil were a motive for the killing.

German was found slashed and stabbed to death in a side yard outside his home where Telles was accused in a criminal complaint of “lying in wait” for him to come outside.

Telles, 47, was arrested five days later, after police circulated video of a person wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brim, straw hat toting a shoulder bag and walking toward German’s home. Police also released images of a distinctive maroon SUV like one that a Review-Journal photographer saw Telles washing outside his home several days after the killing.

Telles grew up in El Paso, Texas, and lived in Colorado before moving to Las Vegas. He became a lawyer in 2015 and ran as a Democrat in 2018 to become Clark County administrator of estates. He lost his elected position after his arrest and his law license was suspended.

Three hundred prospective jurors filled out questionnaires about what they have heard about German’s killing and Telles’ arrest. Interviewing and empaneling 12 jurors and several alternates was expected to take several days. Testimony is expected to take less than two weeks. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

On Monday, Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt quickly denied a final written request by Telles and Draskovich to dismiss the case and call off the trial.

In a court filing, Telles maintained he was illegally detained by police before his arrest; that officer body-worn camera video of was improperly deleted; and hospital blood tests taken following his treatment in custody for what he has called self-inflicted slash wounds to his wrists weren't included as evidence in his case.

Leavitt also rejected other requests to dismiss the case while Telles hired and fired attorneys and served for several months as his own defense lawyer. Telles twice tried to have Leavitt removed from his case, arguing the judge was biased against him.

German's relatives have not spoken publicly about the killing. They declined through a family spokesperson and friend to comment on the trial.

Prosecutors say they have strong evidence, including DNA believed to be from Telles found beneath German's fingernails and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and shoes found at Telles' house that resembled those worn by the person seen on video wearing the orange shirt outside German's home.

Telles wanted his trial to occur quickly. But progress was delayed in part by a legal battle the Review-Journal took to the state Supreme Court to protect public disclosure of confidential sources on German's cellphone and computers.

The newspaper argued names and unpublished material were protected from disclosure by the First Amendment and Nevada state law. Police argued their investigation wouldn’t be complete until the devices were searched for possible evidence. The court gave the newspaper, its lawyers and consultants time to review the files first.

The material was finally turned over on Monday, prosecutors told the judge. Telles stood in court in a white shirt, yellow striped tie, dark jacket and gray slacks and waived his ability to review the material before proceedings began.

Telles also lost a bid to have Leavitt issue a ruling blocking testimony about a discrimination and hostile workplace lawsuit that four women who work in the office he headed have pending in federal court against Telles and Clark County.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has gathered records of 17 journalists and media workers killed in the U.S since 1992, including 15 whose deaths were found to be work-related.

“Killings of journalists in the U.S. are exceedingly rare, thankfully," said Katherine Jacobsen, a program coordinator at the organization.

Gabe Rottman, at the Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C., agreed that killings are uncommon. He called journalism “essential for the public to be able to hold public officials accountable."

“The most severe way to shut the public's eyes to what's going on is to threaten a journalist's life for doing their job," Rottman said. "That shouldn’t happen.”

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