CNN
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A Nevada jury on Wednesday delivered a verdict in the murder trial of Robert Telles, the former politician accused of stabbing Las Vegas investigative reporter Jeff German to death after he wrote a series of critical stories.
The verdict will be pronounced in the court at 12 noon (PT), a court spokesperson said.
Telles, 47, a former Clark County public administrator, had pleaded not guilty in September 2022 to a charge of murder using a deadly weapon in the killing of German, a longtime reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Prosecutors alleged that Tellis killed German because he was angered by the reporter's articles that exposed turmoil in his little-known political office and was concerned about another upcoming article. Tellis had donned a disguise – including a large sun hat – and hid outside the reporter's home and then stabbed him to death, prosecutors said.
Nearly two dozen witnesses testified for the prosecution, using video and physical evidence to link Tellis to the suspect's disguise, a red vehicle at the scene and DNA recovered from under German's fingernails.
“She killed him because Jeff's writings destroyed her career, ruined her reputation, possibly endangered her marriage and exposed things that even he himself admitted he did not want the public to know,” prosecutor Christopher Hamner said in counterclaim Monday. “She did it because Jeff had not finished writing.”
In contrast, the defense said Tellis was framed for the death because he was trying to make changes in his political office that angered the “Old Guard.” Tellis testified in his own defense during the trial and denied wrongdoing, offering a conspiracy theory that a real estate company had hired an assassin to kill the reporter and then frame him.
“I want to state categorically that I am innocent. I did not kill Mr. German,” Telles testified.
The trial in Clark County comes nearly two years after the killing, which has highlighted concerns about violence against journalists, even in the United States. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 14 journalists have been killed in the US since 1992.
German, 69, had written about the underbelly of “Sin City” and covered mobsters, crooked officials and corrupt government agencies in an ink-stained life. Yet prosecutors said it was his coverage of a little-known office run by an elected county official that led to the killing.
German wrote about allegations of wrongdoing in the Clark County Public Administrator's office, reporting that Telles created a hostile work environment and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an employee. Partly because of those articles, Telles lost re-election in the Democratic primary in June 2022.
The reporter was found dead with stab wounds outside his home on September 2, 2022.