‘I did not kill Mr. German’: Telles says as he begins testimony in his murder trial
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - It’s something Robert Telles has wanted to do since being charged with the murder of longtime Las Vegas journalist Jeff German — tell his side of the story.
On Wednesday, Telles took the stand in his own defense and started out by saying he is innocent. He says he did not kill Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. German was found stabbed to death outside his home nearly two years ago.
This is a crucial moment in this trial as Telles didn’t need to testify but he is and he has been waiting for this day in court to tell his side of the story.
Telles took the stand for more than an hour - and as soon as he took his seat, he turned to the jury and addressed them directly.
He wasted no time claiming he is innocent.
“I’m a little nervous, this is a day I’ve been waiting for 2 years,” Telles began speaking to the jury.
“I’m innocent, I didn’t kill Mr. German and I’ve got a lot to share with you,” he said.
“The Sunday after Mr. German was murdered, I learned and I was shocked and I think it was unreal,” Telles added.
“On the morning of September 7, 2022, the officers came at me with their guns drawn, yelling at me,” he said regarding the day police pulled him over in his black Tesla.
Right before court wrapped up, Telles explained the cut on his finger. Police found the injury during an interrogation at Metro’s Summerlin Area Command.
Telles said he was making lunch for his daughter and that is how he cut his finger. He said he was very upset about similar findings on the murder suspect’s car - a red Yukon Denali.
Telles spent a lot of time talking about his role as a public administrator and how he was trying to expose corruption when it comes to homes that are under probate. He specifically has named Compass Realty many times, but we never heard from anyone from that company during this trial.
In the courtroom, FOX5 digital reporter Cody Lee says German’s family looked puzzled at times while Telles was on the stand. As for the jurors, they have been taking notes throughout his testimony.
District attorney Steve Wolfson has also been in the courtroom for the majority of the afternoon.
At times, exhibits were not ready for the defendant to show the jury. Judge Michelle Leavitt had Telles continue on without those exhibits presented. He told the jury that they needed to see those exhibits.
Court is back in session Thursday morning.
FOX5 will stream the proceedings live in its entirety.
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5:03 P.M. - The court is in recess until Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Robert Telles will continue testifying.
4:19 P.M. - Robert Telles began by testifying about his background beginning with high school. He ultimately went on to become a lawyer after a couple of unrelated jobs.
Telles says before he went to law school he met his wife online. They then had a daughter together and eventually two more children.
“When the medical examiner testified [during week 1 of trial] that’s the first time I learned how Mr. Geman was murdered,” Telles said about seeing photos of German’s body.
“I think the way he was murdered speaks to someone who knows what they were doing. The idea that Mr German’s throat was slashed and his heart was stabbed I don’t know if anybody can do that without training,” Telles explained his thoughts on the murder.
“Somebody framed me for this and I believe it was Compass Realty and it related to the work I’ve done against them,” Telles explained in his testimony.
“In March of 2022, I approached Steve Wolfson, he and I and other county heads, we would have regular meetings, would coordinate elections around the corner, we would talk about what ideas do you have,” Telles said. “During one of these meetings I said had concerns about this company,” Telles added.
3:25 P.M. - Robert Telles takes the stand in his murder trial.
2:50 P.M. - The defense has called in a Planet Fitness general manager. Terrence Jamison managed the gym near Telles’ home.
2:19 P.M. - Court is back in session. A witness, who will not be shown, has been called into the courtroom by the defense. She worked in the public administrator’s office.
1:10 P.M. - Before the break, the state cross-examined Robert Aguero.
“All the locations came from media basically photos that were stored on the phone, typically when you take a photograph most phones will give you longitude and latitude,” Aguero said.
“That is a 13-year snapshot of this section of the city regarding location data found on that phone,” district attorney Christopher Hamner explained.
“The owner of the phone has a lot of control over who is watching where they are going with their phone because they control turning on their location information correct?” Hamner asked. “Correct,” Aguero said.
“But the month of August dead silence,” Hamner continued. “Correct,” replied Aguero.
“Sir, the owner of the phone has the ability to turn off the location information, correct?” Hamner added.
“Yes, that is correct you can turn off location history at any point,” Aguero said.
“And you don’t just have the power of turning off a particular app you can literally turn the phone off and it goes dark, correct?” Hamner continued questioning. “If you turn the phone off then it will not record anything,” Aguero responded.
“So, if you want to go to Bronze Circle but you don’t want someone to see you, you can simply turn off your phone?” asked Hamner. “Yes, that is correct,” Aguero said.
“Let’s just say I turned off my phone and went to Bronze Circle, it doesn’t matter how many times someone calls me it’s never going to show up in my records, correct?” Hamner asked. “Correct,” Aguero replied.
The state points out that no outgoing messages, between 8:45 a.m. and 2:20 p.m., were sent out from Telles’ phone.
“And this phone is not responding,” Hamner said.
12:38 P.M. - The court is in recess for lunch until 2 p.m.
11:50 A.M. - The expert witness testifies on Robert Telles’ cell phone data on September 2, 2022, the day Jeff German was murdered.
“All of the blue dots are cell towers that were used that day for voice, text or data,” Aguero explained.
“Again, we have a cell phone tower in the area of 9624 Spanish Steps,” Draskovich asked. “We also have a cell phone tower at Planet Fitness in the area 8945 West Charleston Blvd,” he added. “Yes,” Aguero replied.
“Nor do we have any cell phone data activated in the area of 7216 Bronze Circle address,” the defense continued. “That is correct yes,” Aguero said.
“We have the same two towers that we have seen used before one to the northwest and one to southeast, Spanish Steps locations, one to the northwest we see all the data sessions again those could be background,” Aguero testified.
“In the lower right tower, we have the breakdown of one text message and 3 voice calls and the rest are all data sessions that connected to the tower,” he added.
Aguero went on to say, “Again during this time we have 5 cell towers, one on the lower is a voice call the others are all data sessions they could be background sessions or active sessions.”
“Is it fair to say that the person who had this phone was in the area of this Planet Fitness?” asked Draskovich. “Does it appear that the cellphone was in the proximity of this Planet Fitness?”
“Yes, that is one of the locations it could have been,” replied Aguero. “There is no way to know if someone was using the phone or it was actually sitting there.” He added, “When I pulled the locations for 2022 this is what came up.”
Then cell phone data showed on the morning of September 2, the day German was murdered, there were only incoming messages and calls coming to Telles’ phone - no outgoing information.
However, his defense argued that those could be spam calls.
11:29 A.M. - Defense attorney Robert Draskovich continues questioning Aguero.
11:10 A.M. - Court is in a 10-minute recess.
10:53 A.M. - The defense calls in Robert Aguero, a cell phone forensics expert.
10:42 A.M. - Court is back in session. The defense will continue laying out its case. Then, later today we expect to hear from the defendant, Robert Telles.
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