LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — September will mark two years since Las Vegas journalist Jeff German was found dead outside of his home.
Former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles is headed to trial for the investigative reporter's murder. That's after German wrote a series of stories shining a light on inappropriate conduct in the public administrator's office.
Telles' trial is set to begin on Monday.
WATCH: What to know ahead of Robert Telles' trial for the killing of Jeff German
Why has it taken nearly two years to reach this point?
The biggest delay has been a separate court action to determine who can search electronic devices that German used as a journalist.
I've been following along on this unprecedented first amendment debate that made its way to the state's highest court.
This case has captivated the attention of the nation and hit especially close to home for me and my Las Vegas media colleagues. It impacts how we do our job and the privacy of those we work with.
I spoke with the attorney representing the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the balancing act between protecting freedom of the press and not hindering prosecution of a crime. She told me the issue is a first and not just in Las Vegas.
Should police investigators be allowed to search a journalist's devices after the journalist has died?
That question led to months of litigation in a Clark County courtroom, where the role of the press in a democratic society took center stage.
WATCH: Las Vegas Review-Journal attorney explains why sources, confidential information should be protected
Because of that, the law protects unpublished information journalists gather to create news stories. The district attorney and Metro police argued that in this case, they took Jeff German's phone and laptop computers because they believed information on the devices could help with the investigation into his death.
But according to Kissinger, no matter the reason, taking the devices in the first place violated state and federal law.
"The police department should have never seized those devices," Kissinger said. "I think they knew they shouldn't have, because they very immediately came to the newspaper and asked for permission to search the devices."
The Review-Journal said such a search could expose sensitive information and put confidential sources in danger.
"We know he had sources within the police department itself, within the prosecutor's office — Clark County D.A.'s office — even within the courthouse, within the judicial system, and in the Public Defender's office. And at that time, Mr. Telles was represented by the public defender."
Kissinger says the newspaper has been willing all along to work with law enforcement and get them information that's not privileged, even proposing to have special masters look at the devices to decide what to release. However, she says that offer was declined.
"They basically took the position that we had no rights to assert. We had no privilege in this information at all. It was personal to Mr. German and Mr. German was now dead, even though everything Mr. German was doing was for the Review-Journal."
WATCH: Review-Journal attorney explains the debate over searching the electronic devices
While Nevada does have a shield law, it uses terms like "reporter", "employee", and "former reporter", which prosecutors argued only applied to German as a person and not the Review-Journal as a media company.
"If the reporter dies, it's really the news organization or organizations that the reporter is working for who needs to protect that information. It's not like the need to protect it goes away," Kissinger explained. "If they learn that, oh yeah, even though there was this sensitive, confidential source information, they had to give it over though because there was a homicide case, that's not going to affect not just this one homicide case. It's going to affect a whole lot of reporting that may not happen because you've scared them into silence."
The Nevada Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the Review-Journal.
Nevada Supreme Court Ruling by jarah.wright on Scribd
"When the state and Metro lost in the Nevada Supreme Court, they said to us, hey, you know what Review-Journal? You can just review it yourselves, which honestly, if that's the case, that should have happened in September, October of 2022. Not right now in 2024," Kissinger said.
Kissinger says the newspaper began its review in February. While six devices were seized, all parties agreed that only two should be looked at: German's phone and the computer with the most recent data on it.
WATCH: Could the search hamper the prosecution?
She adds they're on track to give the last batch of evidence to the defense on Monday.
"There is information being given over that's relevant to the criminal case. Not all of it. There are certain items that we had to stand on privilege for, even though it did relate to the Telles case."
Absent any last minute rulings or delays, jury selection is scheduled to start on Monday at 1 p.m.
You can follow our coverage of the trial at ktnv.com/trial.
