3 takeaways from the prosecution’s case against Robert Telles
Prosecutors rested their case on Monday in the murder trial of a former elected official accused of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German.
The jury heard from 28 witnesses over four days of testimony in the trial of former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles. The final witness for the prosecution was Metropolitan Police Department detective Justine Gatus.
Here are three key takeaways from the prosecutor’s case:
Surveillance Footage
In the days after German was killed on Sept. 2, 2022, police released surveillance footage of a man dressed in an orange vest and a large, straw hat. The assailant was captured on camera attacking German outside his home and then getting into a maroon Yukon Denali, prosecutors have said.
Former Metro detective Cliff Mogg testified last week that police found surveillance video of the Denali leaving Telles’ neighborhood, driving around German’s neighborhood, and then driving back towards Telles’ home.
Mogg said that seeing Telles’ car while investigators searched his home “absolutely confirmed my belief that Mr. Telles’ vehicle was the one used in the commission of Jeffrey German’s murder.”
Physical Evidence
While conducting the search warrant at Telles’ house, police found cut-up pieces of a tennis shoe in a plastic bag underneath Telles’ couch. The shoe had blood on it, but it did not test positive for German’s DNA, a crime scene analyst testified.
In Telles’ garage, police found a cut-up straw hat resembling what the assailant wore in security footage. Police also found a dark grey bag matching the description of the bag carried by the assailant.
On Sept. 7, 2022, Telles was detained and police took his a sample of his DNA for testing before he was released. It was only after the DNA results came back that Telles was later arrested — the sample matched the DNA found underneath German’s fingernails, Metro employees testified last week.
Motive
Prosecutors have long accused Telles of attacking German because he was upset over articles the journalist had written about his conduct as an elected official.
Matthew Hovanec, a supervisor at Metro’s digital forensics laboratory, testified Monday that investigators found about 132 downloaded images on Telles’ phone from Google maps, showing the front of German’s house and the street where he lived.
Gatus testified that Telles’ work computer showed information on German’s vehicle registration and address. She said his phone held screenshots of social media posts about German’s articles, and a search history for how to “bury” a news story.
She also said there were over 100 images on Telles phone from August 2022, showing vehicles on a road less than two miles from German’s house. Gatus characterized the images as Telles conducting “surveillance.”
Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, will call his first witness on Tuesday morning. Attorneys have said they expect the trial to finish this week.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.
