Telles Murder Trial: Robert Telles back on stand for more testimony

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - The second week of the Robert Telles trial has wrapped with the defense resting its case and a rebuttal from Clark County district attorneys.

On Friday, we heard more testimony from the former county official. But before that, Day 10 of the high-profile trial started out of order with the state calling in a witness for rebuttal.

Prosecutors called in former Metro homicide detective Clifford Mogg and asked him about his team taking a picture of Telle’s wife’s Apple Watch. It’s a key piece of evidence on that watch showing a message to Telles the morning of Jeff German’s murder. His wife asked, “Where are you” in the message.

However, that message was not found in Telles’ phone. Prosecutors accuse Telles of deliberately deleting the message on his phone.

Then, the defense stepped in.

“There was an SMS or text message deleted, correct?” Lead defense attorney Robert Draskovich asked. “I was not privy of going through the download of Mr. Telles’ phone, I heard there was a text message deleted but I never seen it,” Mogg replied.

“The entry on this Celebrite extraction does not contain the word – deleted?” Draskovich asked. “It doesn’t contain the term, yes,” Mogg answered.

Telles was then under oath again to continue his side of the story.

TELLES: “We were shown a video that was right across the way from Mr. German’s house, I don’t engage in crime but if I wanted to do something and not be caught on camera and if I knew there was a camera right across the way, I wouldn’t do it.”

TELLES: “I certainly would find another means of transportation without using my own vehicle.”

TELLES: “I did not buy a straw hat; I did not buy a construction shirt.”

TELLES: “My wife was sequestered in a room, along with my children, during the search. She was under supervision by a police officer and there was no body camera video from the search. I have seen numerous cases while body cam video is used during searches, and it wasn’t used in my home.”

TELLES: “I’m not the kind of person that would brutally murder another man, do it with apparent experience and training and then go to the gym and go pick up my children. I can’t imagine being that type of person I didn’t kill Mr. German, I am innocent. I have concluded.”

Telles, again, admitted to having an affair with Roberta Lee-Kennett, a former coworker. Back in May of 2022, their relationship was the center of German’s article.

“I’m going to have to speak on the relationship with Roberta. We grew close during COVID. We grew too close obviously, we have choices, and we made a mistake, and it’s something we regret. But if Mr. German had not been killed, you wouldn’t be hearing that we got into that relationship,” Telles explained to the jury.

He said German would not even be able to make out the conversations he requested from Clark County. Telles refers to all the redactions of personal messages between him and Lee-Kennett.

“He was not going to have any more material to make a more damaging article,” Telles said.

A juror actually wanting to know how Telles’ wife found out about the relationship. This is likely the last time jurors hear from Telles.

“Did your wife find out about the affair from the German article or did you tell her?” Judge Michelle Leavitt reads the question.

“She actually found out beforehand. I did, you know, unfortunately, like I said, I made a mistake. It is what it is. As far as my wife is concerned, they did forgive me for what happened.”

The trial will resume on Monday.

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2:15 P.M. - Court is in recess until Monday at 9:30 a.m.

1:45 P.M. - The jury has left for the day but proceedings are still taking place outside the presence of them.

1:19 P.M. - Court is back in session. The defense is questioning Matthew Hovanec on the witness stand.

11:58 A.M. - Court is in recess for lunch until 1 p.m.

11:44 A.M. The state calls in Det. Justine Gatus for rebuttal.

11:34 A.M. - Telles said he was looking up how to make fried rice to make lunch for his daughter when he cut his finger due to being frazzled over the investigation pointing to him who killed German.

Hovanec searched the device and found no evidence of any searches on Telles’ phone regarding a recipe.

The defense is now cross-examining. They are questioning if Hovanec searched any other devices or if he just searched Telles’ phone.

11:16 A.M. - The state calls back in witness Matthew Hovanec for rebuttal. Hovanec is a LVMPD forensics lab supervisor.

11:12 A.M. - The defense has rested its case.

10:54 A.M. - Robert Telles, again, addresses the alleged relationship between him and Roberta Lee-Kennett, a former co-worker in the public administrator’s office.

“I’m going to have to speak on the relationship with Roberta.. we grew close.. we grew too close. Obviously, we have choices and we made a mistake, and it’s something we regret but if Mr. German had not been killed you wouldn’t be hearing that we got into that relationship,” Telles said. “He was not going to have any more material to make a more damaging article,” he continued.

“Roberta is a good person she loves her family very much and we both made stupid mistakes but that doesn’t mean I killed Mr. German,” Telles added.

“I would never engage in any criminal conduct because I respect the law,” he said. “Certainly, I wouldn’t commit a murder because I respect human life. I don’t believe anyone should have their life cut short at the hands of another person.”

10:35 A.M. - Court resumes. Robert Telles is back on the witness stand.

10:05 A.M. - Court is in recess.

9:50 A.M. - Defense attorney Robert Draskovich is cross-examining Det. Mogg.

9:45 A.M. - Court is back in session. The state appears to be rebutting the case now. Detective Clifford Mogg has been called back into the courtroom by the state.

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