Jury finds Las Vegas politician guilty in murder of investigative reporter

(CN) — After 12 hours of deliberation, the jury in the trial of Robert Telles, a former Las Vegas politician accused of murdering investigative reporter Jeff German, came back with a guilty verdict on Wednesday.

Prosecutors called 28 witnesses as they painted a picture of Telles as an embittered official who blamed German when he lost his bid for reelection. The late reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal had published a series of critical articles about Telles and his leadership within the Clark County Public Administrator’s Office.

The jury found Telles guilty of first-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon on a victim aged 60 or older. German was 69 when he was stabbed to death, and would have celebrated his 71st birthday this past Friday.

The jury also found Telles should serve life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. Before landing on that decision, the jury heard from members of both Telles' and German's family.

German's siblings told the jury about the dedicated family man their older brother was when he was alive and shared family photos from over the years.

"Jeff loved his family. He loves spending time with his nieces and nephews," Julie Smith, German's sister told the court.

German grew up in Wisconsin and came out to Las Vegas when he was offered a job, his family said. The rest of the siblings ended up following him to be together.

"He just seemed to be the core of our family ever since my parents were gone," Smith said.

He was the first person his sister, Jill Zwerg, told when she got engaged and German celebrated by buying a round of champagne for everyone in the bar at TGI Fridays.

"These events, these holidays, they'll never be the same without Jeffrey there, ever," Zwerg said.

The siblings said German was a shrewd investigative reporter who had no interest in retiring despite his age. His brother had hoped they could spend their later years golfing together, but that dream was cut short.

"It's been very stressful over the past couple of years. I wouldn’t want anybody to go through this," Jay German told the court. "It was devastating to the family."

Telles wife, mother and first wife also addressed the jury. His wife Maryann Isamel told the court he was a devoted father who continued to take a hands-on role in his children's lives even after he was sent to the detention center.

"I would love, at some point, to give my children the chance to have their father back," Isamel said.

His mother, addressing the jury directly, implored them not to choose the harshest penalty, which is life without parole.

"I ask you to please, I accept the verdict, and if you could please give my son a chance at parole," Rosalinda Anaya said. "His family is still very young and I would like for him someday to be back with them again."

Telles was motivated to kill German, prosecutors said, to stifle more negative stories about him being published.

Defense attorneys called six witnesses, including Telles himself.

Prior to German’s killing on Sept. 2, 2022, the reporter had requested internal communications between Telles and a staff member with whom he was accused of having an inappropriate relationship. During his three days of testimony, Telles admitted to having an affair with the employee — and to lying to German about the affair in a May 2022 interview.

Telles was notified the day before German was stabbed to death that his communications with the staff member were going to be released to the reporter.

“Who’s the one that wouldn’t want another article written about him engaging in an affair?” prosecutor Chris Hammer asked during closing arguments on Monday. “He’s the only one that would have a stake in making sure that article never got written.”

On the stand, Telles adamantly denied killing German, and instead posited that he was the victim of a vast conspiracy involving police, DNA labs, staff members from his office and a local realty company, among other unknown players.

He said he believed he was targeted due to his investigation into a reported fraudulent housing kickback scheme run by the realty company.

The state pushed back on this theory and questioned why, if Telles had in fact been framed, no murder weapon was recovered.

In closing on Monday, Telles’ defense attorney Robert Draskovich showed the jury surveillance footage from the day of the murder; it showed the car prosecutors say Telles drove, according to Draskovich. The driver of the vehicle appeared to be wearing the same shirt prosecutors described Telles as wearing on the day of the murder. Draskovich zoomed in on the video to show the court the person behind the wheel, he claimed, had hair. Telles is bald.

Draskovich said the profile didn’t match Telles.

“It’s not open to dispute,” Draskovich said.

Hamner countered that the person in the image may have been a construction worker from a nearby site.

Prosecutors pointed to the evidence mounted against Telles, including apparel from his home matching that seen on the suspect in surveillance footage and Telles’ DNA found under German’s fingernails.

The government also accused Telles of leaving his cell phone at home during the crime to avoid having his location pinpointed to German’s neighborhood. The state had shown the jury an image from a text thread with Telles’ wife, in which she asked the public official “Where are you?” the morning that German was killed.

Before coming to the verdict, the jury requested a second laptop to review the digital evidence in the case. Jurors also asked for a side-by-side walk comparison of Telles and surveillance footage of the assailant presented in closing arguments.

Telles will be sentenced on Oct. 16.

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