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A jury on Wednesday discovered a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician charged with homicide within the slaying of an investigative journalist who had written vital tales about him responsible.
Jurors started deliberating Monday to find out in the event that they agreed with prosecutors’ claims that Robert Telles, 47, stabbed veteran investigative journalist Jeff German to loss of life in September 2022, simply months after German wrote tales vital of Telles and his office conduct, together with allegations of an inappropriate romantic relationship with a feminine coworker.
Las Vegas jurors deliberated for about 4 hours Monday earlier than breaking for the night. The panel of seven ladies and 5 males deliberated for about six hours on Tuesday following a two-week trial. Attorneys gave closing arguments on Monday morning.
On Monday, they despatched the choose a word in search of extra notepaper and a courtroom technician to point out them methods to zoom in on laptop computer video whereas within the jury room.
DEM VEGAS POLITICIAN STUMPED WHEN CONFRONTED WITH SURPRISE THREE-WORD TEXT MESSAGE IN MURDER TRIAL
A jury is resuming deliberations on Tuesday within the trial of a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician, Robert Telles, left, who’s accused of murdering an investigative journalist, Jeff German, backside proper. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner, high proper. (Okay.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal, Pool, important and high proper, Elizabeth Brumley/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal by way of Getty.)
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner mentioned throughout closing arguments Monday that German wasn’t completed in his work of exposing Telles, which in the end led the politician to taking out the veteran journalist.
Telles misplaced his Democratic main for a second time period after German’s first tales for the Las Vegas Assessment-Journal in Might 2022 about Telles’ conduct heading an obscure county workplace that handles unclaimed estates. He practiced civil legislation earlier than he was elected in 2018 and his legislation license was suspended following his arrest a number of days after German was killed.
“And he did it as a result of Jeff wasn’t performed writing,” Hamner mentioned. “It’s like connecting the dots. He murdered him as a result of Jeff’s writing destroyed his profession. It destroyed his repute. It threatened most likely his marriage. Uncovered issues that even he admitted he didn’t need the general public to know.”
VIDEO: Former Las Vegas politician disputes DNA proof in homicide trial
Protection legal professional Robert Draskovich argued that the prosecution’s case didn’t meet the authorized normal and reminded the jury of Telles’ argument on the stand that he was being framed for preventing corruption within the trade. He has maintained his innocence.
“Proof past an affordable doubt is the very best normal on this nation,” Draskovich mentioned. “It isn’t presumption. Preponderance of the proof. It isn’t clear and convincing. It is proof and cheap doubt. This idea was borrowed from the Previous English frequent legislation. Our founding fathers thought that it would be higher to let ten responsible males go free than to wrongfully convicted an harmless particular person.”
German was the one journalist killed within the U.S. in 2022, based on the New York-based Committee to Shield Journalists.
The day earlier than German was stabbed to loss of life, Telles realized that Clark County officers have been about to supply German with e-mail and textual content messages that Telles and the girl shared, in response to the reporter’s request for public data. One other story was within the offing, Hamner mentioned.
German was killed the following day.
Prosecutors say Telles blamed German for writing tales that destroyed his profession, ruined his repute and threatened his marriage.
DEM VEGAS POLITICIAN ACCUSED OF JOURNALIST MURDER TESTIFIES: ‘UNEQUIVOCALLY I’M INNOCENT’
A shock textual content message offered on the homicide trial of former Las Vegas Democratic politician Robert Telles seems to solid thriller on his whereabouts on the day of the slaying. (Okay.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal by way of AP, Pool)
German was discovered slashed and stabbed to loss of life in a facet yard exterior his residence, the place Telles is accused in a felony grievance of “mendacity in wait” for German to return exterior.
Telles was arrested days later after police circulated video of an individual carrying an orange work shirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat toting a shoulder bag and strolling towards German’s residence.
Prosecutors mentioned they offered robust proof, together with DNA believed to be from Telles discovered beneath German’s fingernails and cut-up items of a straw hat and sneakers discovered at Telles’ home that resembled these worn by the particular person seen on video exterior German’s residence.
Hamner acknowledged that two key items of proof have been by no means discovered: The orange work shirt and the knife used to assault German. He questioned why individuals out to border Telles would have left them out of the proof stock.
Throughout the trial, the jury heard that Telles had tons of of photographs of German’s residence and neighborhood on his cellphone and laptop.
Different photographs taken from Telles’ units included a picture of a single grey athletic shoe with a particular black sample and a shot of Telles’ work laptop on the Clark County Public Administrator and Guardian workplace with outcomes of web searches via a password-protected web site that retrieved German’s title, residence deal with, car registration and date of start.
Hamner famous for jurors that the photograph was taken Aug. 23, 2022 — lower than two weeks earlier than German was discovered useless in a pool of blood.
Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, proper, talks to Las Vegas Assessment-Journal reporter Jeff German in his Las Vegas workplace, on Might 11, 2022. (Okay.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal by way of AP)
Police additionally launched pictures of a particular maroon SUV like one {that a} Assessment-Journal photographer noticed Telles washing exterior his residence a number of days after the killing. It was pushed by an individual carrying an orange outfit and a giant straw hat.
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly offered a timeline and movies of Telles’ maroon SUV leaving the neighborhood close to his residence slightly after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving on streets close to German’s residence a short while later.
The SUV driver was seen carrying a brilliant orange outfit just like one worn by an individual captured on digital camera strolling to German’s residence and slipping right into a facet yard.
Telles himself referred a number of occasions on the stand to that particular person as German’s killer.
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An proof photograph of Robert Telles’ Yukon Denali SUV. (Okay.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs)
An unearthed textual content message – allegedly deleted from his cellphone however recovered by way of his spouse’s Apple Watch – shrouded the thriller of the defendant’s alibi because the message reveals her asking the place he was across the time of the homicide.
Prosecutors advised the jury they imagine Telles didn’t reply as a result of he left his cellphone — and its means to trace him — at residence.
Robert Telles washes his automotive exterior his residence, Sept. 6, 2022, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Assessment-Journal by way of AP, File)
A few dozen German members of the family sat silently collectively within the hushed courtroom on Monday. Telles faces life in jail if he’s convicted.
Fox Information Digital’s Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
Michael Dorgan is a author for Fox Information Digital and Fox Enterprise.
You may ship tricks to michael.dorgan@fox.com and observe him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
