Closings set in trial of ex-politician accused of killing Las Vegas investigative reporter

LAS VEGAS — A jury that heard a former Las Vegas-area Democratic politician insist that evidence together with DNA tying him to the killing of an investigative journalist was tainted, planted or flawed — and that he was the sufferer of an enormous conspiracy — will hear closing trial arguments Monday.

Robert Telles gained’t return once more to the witness stand earlier than a jury panel of seven males and 7 girls is pared to 12. They’ll be requested to determine if all of them imagine Telles stabbed, slashed and murdered longtime Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal reporter Jeff German. Two shall be designated as alternates.

“I’m not loopy. I’m not attempting to keep away from duty,” Telles advised them Friday to finish his second and last spherical of self-guided testimony earlier than the prosecution and protection rested their circumstances. “I didn’t kill Mr. German and I’m harmless.”

Telles is accused of plotting to kill German, 69, a revered journalist who spent 44 years protecting crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas, after German authored a number of articles for the Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal a few county workplace in turmoil below Telles’ management.

These tales included allegations that Telles had a romantic relationship with a feminine worker, which Telles admitted for the primary time Thursday have been true. German was engaged on one other report about that relationship when he was killed.

Telles, 47, is an lawyer who practiced civil legislation earlier than he was elected in 2018. His legislation license was suspended following his arrest a number of days after German was killed. He misplaced his 2022 Democratic main bid for a second elected time period and derided German and the Evaluation-Journal on social media afterward.

“I wasn’t blissful about them,” Telles advised prosecutor Christopher Hamner, referring to the articles. “I don’t know that I ever hated him,” he stated of German.

Telles faces life in jail if he’s discovered responsible.

Jurors have been attentive all through the trial, watching Telles within the witness field for 2 days. He spoke softly, stated he had been ready two years in jail to inform his story, shifted in his seat, rested his chin on one hand then the opposite, and rambled haltingly from matter to matter and denial to denial.

He named workplace colleagues, actual property brokers and enterprise homeowners he blamed for “framing” him for German’s killing. He stated it was retaliation for his crusading effort to root out corruption he noticed as elected administrator of the county workplace that handles unclaimed property and probate property circumstances.

Telles spoke on to the jury by means of a story methodology that relieved protection lawyer Robert Draskovich of the duty for main him within the common question-and-answer format.

“I’m not the form of one who may brutally homicide one other man,” Telles stated Friday, “after which go to the gymnasium after which go decide up my kids. I can’t think about being that form of individual.”

The place Telles was when German was killed remained a central focus for 2 weeks, as prosecutors Pamela Weckerly and Hamner offered 28 witnesses and a whole lot of pages of photographs, police studies and video.

Key testimony Friday targeted on a textual content from his spouse asking “The place are you?” that Hamner cited on the finish of the day Thursday. It was present in a police photograph of Telles’ spouse’s Apple watch system, exhibiting a time about 10:30 a.m. Sept. 2, 2022 — in regards to the time proof confirmed German was killed.

Hamner had prompt the message might need been deleted from Telles’ telephone. However on Friday, Matthew Hovanec, a Las Vegas police digital forensics supervisor, testified there was no method to decide if it had been deleted.

Telles and 5 different individuals testified throughout trial for the protection. No Telles relations have been known as to the stand or recognized within the trial gallery.

One witness was a cellphone knowledge forensic analyst. One other, a forensic psychologist who testified that self-inflicted cuts on Telles’ wrists when he was present in a bath at house and arrested by police shouldn’t be interpreted as an indication of guilt. They may have been a bid to attract sympathy, he stated.

Within the courtroom, about 10 German relations sat silently collectively all through the proceedings. Every day they declined as a bunch to remark.

The killing drew widespread consideration. German was the one journalist killed within the U.S. in 2022, based on the New York-based Committee to Shield Journalists. The nonprofit has information of 17 media employees killed within the U.S. since 1992.

Jurors realized a maroon SUV much like a Telles household automobile was seen in German’s residential neighborhood about the identical time German was fatally stabbed in a aspect yard of his house. It was the Friday earlier than Labor Day weekend 2022.

The SUV driver was seen carrying a vibrant orange outfit much like one worn by an individual captured on digicam strolling to German’s house and slipping right into a aspect yard.

“That individual stays, mendacity in wait, for Jeff German,” Weckerly stated as she confirmed video throughout opening statements Aug. 14. “Mr. German opens his storage, goes into that aspect yard, and he’s attacked.”

German’s physique was discovered the subsequent day and Telles’ DNA was discovered beneath German’s fingernails. When requested about that DNA, Telles stated he believed it was planted.

Earlier, Telles himself expressed to the jury his horror on the “ugly” means the 69-year-old investigative journalist was killed.

“, the concept Mr. German’s throat was slashed and his coronary heart was stabbed. … I’m not the form of one who would stab somebody. I didn’t kill Mr. German,” Telles stated. “And that’s my testimony.”

The jury heard about cut-up items of a broad straw hat and a grey athletic shoe discovered at Telles’ home that appeared like ones worn by the individual carrying the orange outfit. The orange shirt and a homicide weapon have been by no means discovered.

The prosecutor on Friday listed a number of individuals and entities that Telles referred to in his testimony — an actual property firm, detectives, the Clark County district lawyer, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others — and requested if Telles believed they have been all in on “one huge conspiracy” to have German murdered and pin the blame on Telles.

“I don’t know,” Telles stated, nodding alongside as every was named. “I can’t rule it out. Are you able to rule it out? I can’t say who and who is just not concerned.”

“On the finish of the day, you’re simply the sufferer, proper?” Hamner requested.

“Sure,” Telles stated, nodding as soon as extra.