In an update to a story, we brought you back in February 2023, former El Pasoan Robert Telles testified that he was “framed” for the murder of journalist Jeff German two years ago. Telles is the great grandson of El Paso’s first Hispanic mayor, Raymond L. Telles is on trial for murdering a Las Vegas journalist that he blames ended his political career. Robert Telles was charged in the murder of Jeff German in 2022. Telles is the son of Raymond Telles who pleaded guilty to public corruption in the FBI’s Poisoned Pawns investigation into public corruption.
In 2018, Telles, a Democrat, ran for and won the Clark County administrator’s seat. He took office in 2019 for a four-year term. In January 2023, Telles relinquished his seat to Rita Reid after losing to her in the Democratic Party primary the previous year. Telles has accused Reid of being part of a vast “conspiracy,” that includes the police, DNA laboratories and real estate agencies of framing him for the murder of German. Telles alleges that conspiracy was driven by his attempts to end corruption from the Las Vegas “old-guard” real estate network.
On September 2, 2022, Jeff German was killed at his home in Las Vegas. Telles, the former Clark County Administrator is facing trial, accused of murdering German. German, who was a journalist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal had been writing stories about Telles’ affair with an employee and problems with the office before he was murdered. German had published a video of Telles meeting with the employee he was having an extramarital affair with at a parking garage. The woman Telles was having an affair with testified early in the trial that she suspected Telles of the murder because Telles “hated” German for ruining his political career, and because the picture released by the police of the SUV involved in the murder matched Telles’ Yukon.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Telles took the stand at his trial to testify that he was innocent of the murder. Taking the stand on the eighth day of the trial, Telles told the jury that “I did not kill Mr. German.” In a 90-minute “narrative testimony”, Telles argued that he was “framed” to make it look like he had murdered German. Prosecutors have presented evidence in court that include pictures of Telles’ red Yukon SUV parked outside of the murder scene, Telles’ DNA under the victim’s fingernails and other pictures of a straw hat, orange vest and shoes that the detectives recovered at Telles’ home matching the clothing worn by the murderer in pictures collected by police.
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Under cross examination, Telles maintained that a professional assassin committed the murder and framed Telles for it. In response to the prosecutor’s question about a shoe with DNA evidence found under his couch, Telles repeated, “again, I did not commit the murder.” When asked about his DNA found under the victim’s fingernails, Telles responded, “I believe it (the DNA) was planted because I did not kill Mr. German.”
The trial of Telles is scheduled to resume today at 9:30am. He has been awaiting trial in jail for almost two years. The defense is expected to rest its case on Monday. Prosecutors rested their case last Monday. Telles faces life in prison if convicted of the murder.