A Las Vegas trial in which prosecutors claim the 2022 killing of a local reporter was committed by an elected official he was investigating is now underway, with opening statements starting Wednesday, Aug. 14.
Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found stabbed to death outside his home Sept. 3, 2022.
At the time the 69-year-old — a venerable voice in Sin City media with a four-decade journalism career focused on local politics and crime — was pursuing a story investigating then-Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, a Democrat who had just lost his reelection bid, following German’s earlier set of stories alleging Telles had an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via Getty
In an article that May, German described Telles’s office as “mired in turmoil and internal dissension over the past two years, with allegations of emotional stress, bullying and favoritism leading to secret videotaping of the boss and a co-worker outside the office.”
Shortly after German’s death, Thomas Pitaro likened his friend to “a pit bull,” telling PEOPLE in an interview that the reporter “wasn’t afraid to take on big issues in Las Vegas.”
“If he bit on a story, he didn’t let go of it until he got the whole damn thing,” he added.
In the days after German’s killing, police released surveillance video of a person dressed in a reflective orange jacket and wide-brimmed straw hat, carrying a duffle bag.
Investigators recovered a matching straw hat matching, as well as a pair of shoes the suspect was described as wearing, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Captain Dori Koren said at a press conference at the time.
Las Vegas Police Department
“There is apparent blood on the shoes and the shoes were cut in a manner to try and destroy evidence,” Koren told reporters, adding that the hat was “also cut in a manner that was likely to destroy the evidence.”
Police believed the suspect had taken off in a distinctive maroon GMC Yukon Denali — complete with chrome handles, a sunroof and a luggage rack.
At trial, prosecutors plan to present DNA evidence collected from under the reporter’s fingernails, which they allege matches that of Telles, per the AP.
Las Vegas Police Department
“It’s surreal — I never saw it coming,” Ozzie Fumo, a defense attorney who was friends with both men, told PEOPLE in 2022. “If I would’ve thought in any way that [Telles] would’ve been capable of doing something like this, of course, I would’ve warned Jeff. It’s shocking. I guess I didn’t know Robert as well as I thought.”
Telles has pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming he was framed in a botched police investigation, per the AP.
In an email to PEOPLE Wednesday, his defense lawyer, Robert Draskovich said he “maintains his innocence and wants to tell his story to the jury.”
If convicted, Telles faces a life sentence.
Ethan Miller/Getty
Telles’s frustration with German’s reporting was well-documented on social media, PEOPLE previously reported.
That June, Telles wrote in a Tweet that has since been deleted: “*Wife hears rustling in the trash* Her: ‘Honey, is there a wild animal in the trash?’ Me: ‘No, dear. Looks like it’s @JGermanRJ going through our trash for his 4th story on me.’ Oh, Jeff…”
And in another now-deleted Tweet, he called German a “typical bully,” who slung “100 pounds of BS,” adding: “You’d think he’d have better things to do.”
At the September 2022 press conference, Koren alleged German was exposing “potential wrongdoing” which had “upset” Telles, adding: “Telles was also upset that there was additional reporting that was pending.”
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Of 69 reporters killed across the globe in 2022, German was the only journalist slain in the U.S., according to data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Following his death, the Review-Journal‘s executive editor Glenn Cook called the reporter “the gold standard of the news business.”
Cook continued: “It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”
