LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles is set for his murder trial to begin on Monday.
Telles is accused of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in September of 2022.
Since then, there have been many twists and turns inside the courtroom. But the drama in Telles' office may have provoked a deadly chain of events.
Here's what to know ahead of the Robert Telles murder trial:
More than two years ago, workers at the Clark County public administrator's office tipped off German in private about alleged turmoil at their workplace under Telles' leadership.
It was the subject of a series of articles published by German starting with one on May 2022 titled, "County office in turmoil with secret video and claims of bullying, hostility."
In it, German writes:
"A half-dozen current and former employees interviewed by the Review-Journal are alleging the hostile work environment was fueled by the elected administrator of the office, Robert Telles."
In June 2022, Telles lost his re-election bid for public administrator.
A few months later, in September 2022, German was found stabbed to death at his home.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released surveillance video which they say showed the suspect. In the video, the person is wearing a big straw hat and an orange reflective shirt.
Days later, Metro zeroed in on Telles and brought him in for questioning. Police also searched his home.
Investigators found pieces of a cut-up sun hat in his garage.
But the most compelling piece of evidence, police said, was DNA found under German's fingernails, which matched a sample taken from Telles.
Police had obtained enough evidence to arrest Telles for German's murder.
From then until now, Channel 13 has been at Telles' court hearings. Telles hired and fired three lawyers and was even representing himself for a while.
"I'm not playing games with you," said Judge Michelle Leavitt during a hearing in February 2023. "This is very, very serious."
Telles tried to get Judge Leavitt off his case and told Channel 13 in a jailhouse interview in February 2023 that she "violated certain code of conduct rules."
Chief Justice Jerry Weise dismissed Telles' motion for the judge's recusal.
In February 2024, Telles hired well-known criminal defense attorney Robert Draskovich to represent him.
Draskovich said Telles was the subject of a Metro bribery investigation a month before German's murder and that his client was being surveilled by police.
"We want to see if there was any reconnaissance on his part conducted prior to this," said Draskovich in a February 2024 interview.
Since retaining Draskovich, Telles has been adamant about proceeding with his trial.
However, there's been a holdup in the case because of conflicts over how to search German's devices. It was even brought to the Nevada Supreme Court with attorneys for the Review-Journal arguing for the 1st Amendment.
The Review-Journal won that case and has been reviewing the devices so German's sources aren't leaked.
It's something workers at the county public administrator's office said was important to German.
"We know Jeff would be protective of his sources," said Aleisha Goodwin.
RJ said it will hand over information on German's devices to both prosecutors and Telles' team by Monday morning, just hours before jury selection for Telles' trial is set to begin.
