LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — For about 12 hours, a jury panel of seven women and five men deliberated on Robert Telles' fate.
Telles is the former Clark County public administrator found guilty last week of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in September 2022.
Jury foreperson Gregory Whitney, 30, is revealing more details about how the panel reached its verdict.
Whitney tells Channel 13 he has never served on a jury before the Telles trial and realized the gravity of the case as it went on.
"As it unfolded, that's when I realized how crazy and kind of high profile this was," Whitney said.
During the trial, Whitney was seen asking several questions to attorneys and actively taking notes.
"We weren't going to get a transcript so we tried to take as extensive notes as we could," Whitney said.
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Many told Channel 13 they wanted to know how jurors felt about Telles' narrative testimony.
"It was the first time I heard that that was even an option," Whitney said. "We thought Mr. Draskovich actually did a really good job at defending him for the first part of it. It wasn't really up until his narrative, we as a jury, started noticing a lot of holes."
Whitney believes if Telles hadn't testified, there could've been a likelihood of a hung jury.
Here's how the votes were tallied:
Once in the jury deliberation room, jurors took their initial vote. There were 7 guilty votes, 4 unsure and 1 not guilty (this juror did not know unsure was an option).
By the end of day one, there were 8 guilty votes and 4 unsure.
On day 2, there were 11 guilty votes and 1 not guilty vote.
Whitney said part of the hold up was because of pictures Telles' attorney Robert Draskovich showed during closing arguments, appearing to show a person with hair inside the Yukon Denali in question.
"We did have a theory that if you're in the vehicle, you can't be wearing the hat," Whitney said. "You still want to be hiding your head, maybe it was a hood. The way the hair peaked out didn't look like a normal hairline."
Whitney said one juror also noticed as she zoomed in on the video and the Denali was driving away from where the construction worker was, she could see the hairline from the person recede, like it was a shadow.
With all the evidence presented in the case, Whitney said his vote stayed consistent — guilty.
There was a video Telles was adamant that the jurors see. Whitney said it was a probate court video when he was trying to point out to a judge about alleged corruption by a private realty group called Compass Realty & Management.
In the video, Telles was seen talking over the judge, according to Whitney.
"It kind of shows his character," Whitney said. "We saw the video but it almost had more of a negative effect."
Telles was also seen in trial making a lot of facial expressions and resting his head on his hand. Whitney said jurors noticed this behavior.
"He has a lot of ticks," Whitney said. "Nervous ticks? I don't know I couldn't say. Lying ticks? Quite possibly."
The jurors had to go through more than 400 exhibits.
"It's honestly why the deliberation took as long as it did because we tried to go through it as thoroughly as we could," Whitney said.
But it was a side-by-side walk comparing Telles' walk from a video in German's news article to surveillance video captured of the suspect in German's neighborhood that sealed the deal for Whitney and other jurors.
"That really helped us because a lot of people did notice the mannerism and how he held his arm when he walked was very similar, if not identical, to the suspect," Whitney said.
The worst punishment Telles could have received was life without the possibility of parole. Channel 13 asked Whitney why the jury opted for life with the possibility of parole.
"I figured if we just do with, if he does get, he has to deserve it and he has to earn it," Whitney said.
Whitney said the testimony from both German's and Telles' family impacted many jurors.
Telles still maintains his innocence even after conviction, but Whitney is confident the jury got it right.
"I know he thinks we got it wrong," Whitney said. "But there was just too much swaying against him. We started at the conspiracy theory and went down that rabbit hole and really tried to follow it. But it ended and the only theory we had left was you're the one with motive. We have these texts. We have these videos. We have all this downloaded data. It's too hard to defeat for us."
A judge can order more time in prison for Telles because of enhancements to Telles' charge. The formal sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 16.
You can read our full coverage of the trial HERE.
