Telles Murder Trial: State prosecutors continue bringing in witnesses
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - More than 20 witnesses have been called so far as week 1 of the Robert Telles trial wraps up Friday. Telles is accused of killing Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German in 2022.
German had written a series of articles about a hostile work environment.
On the stand Friday afternoon was a woman who worked in the office with Robert Telles. She was the subject of one of German’s articles about Telles.
Roberta Lee-Kennett tells the jury she has been working as a Clark County employee for over a decade and worked in the same office as Telles. She claims they were friends.
In the summer of 2022, German wrote an article about Lee-Kennett and Telles.
She was questioned about it today along with text messages between the two after German was killed.
Throughout all of this, you can see Telles paying close attention to what she was saying.
Lee-Kennett also continues to say when police released pictures of the suspect’s car, she texted Telles about it.
He said, “That’s crazy” and later said in a text reply, “It’s similar if not the same,” referencing the color of the car.
Lee-Kennett goes on to tell the jury that is when she started to get suspicious.
FOX5 digital reporter Cody Lee, who is in the courtroom, says German’s family is present and has been emotional at times.
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4:05 P.M. - Court is in recess until Monday at 10:30 a.m.
3:35 P.M. - Court is back in session. Det. Jappe faces cross-examination from Telles’ lawyer Robert Draskovich.
3:09 P.M. - The court is on a 15-minute break.
2:30 P.M. - Metro detective Derek Jappe is on the stand now. He investigated alleged corruption in the public administrator’s office.
2:10 P.M. - Bradley Friess a Metro police sergeant, is on the stand now.
1:57 P.M. - Bodycam video is played by the state. It shows the moments Officer Mariscal arrived at German’s home after dispatch received a call from Roy Bailey, German’s neighbor.
1:45 P.M. - Anthony Mariscal, a police officer for Metro, is on the stand. He arrived on scene the day the Baileys found German’s body outside his house.
1:20 P.M. - Court is back in session.
12:06 P.M. - The court is in recess for lunch. Draskovich will cross-examine Lee-Kennett after the break. Court will resume at 1:15 p.m.
11:55 A.M. - The state calls Roberta Lee Kennett to the stand. She worked in the public administrator’s office with Robert Telles.
STATE: “In May of 2022 were you aware that reporter Jeff German was possibly writing a story that would have included information about you?”
LEE-KENNETT: “Yes.”
STATE: “Who told you that Mr german was writing that story?”
LEE-KENNETT: “Rob did.”
STATE: “Did he give you contact information for Mr. German?”
LEE-KENNETT: “Yes.”
LEE-KENNETT: “I was upset, embarrassed.”
STATE: “What was his feelings toward Mr. German?”
LEE-KENNETT: “He did not like Mr. German.”
LEE-KENNETT: “I would assume he hated him.”
STATE: “Did he ever tell you he hated him?”
LEE-KENNETT: “Yes.”
This is when you see Telles shaking his head in disagreement.
LEE-KENNETT: “Yeah there were more stories that followed.”
LEE-KENNETT: “It ruined his chances to run so I would assume he would be upset.”
After the first article about their relationship came out, German requested additional records request of any messages between Roberta and Telles.
That Friday, Labor Day weekend, she went to work and saw an email, sent September 1, from the Clark County PIO’s office there was a request about all the messages.
The two of them talked after finding out about German’s murder
LEE-KENNETT: “I wake up and look at local news every morning while I’m getting ready, and I saw on Twitter or X, I saw an article about German being murdered so that freaked me out.”
STATE: “So once you learn of that, did you have communications between you and Mr. Telles about the fact that Mr. German had been murdered?”
LEE-KENNETT: “Yes something like the fact that, oh my gosh, Mr. German has been murdered... I send him a copy of a screenshot of that and I said that I was not going to go into work anymore.”
STATE: “His response to you is -- holy s**t.”
LEE-KENNETT: “Yes.”
STATE: “On 9/6/2022 you send a message ‘Rob WTF please do not be driving your Yukon for a while.”
STATE: “What did you see that made you send that message
LEE-KENNETT: “What everyone else had seen, the photos in the media.”
STATE: “And his response is -- Thats crazy.”
STATE: “And you replied by saying -- please tell me your Yukon is not that color.”
LEE-KENNETT: “Correct.”
STATE: “He said it is similar, if not the same
STATE: “He says -- yeah it’s fine I didn’t do it.”
LEE-KENNETT: “Right.”
Lee starts to freak out because she notices the photos released by Metro of the car and Telles’ car are the same, and she suspects him.
11:20 A.M. - Dan Kulin with the Clark County communications office is called to the witness stand.
11:05 A.M. - Defense begins cross-examination of Kimberly Dannenberger.
10:45 A.M. - Court is in a 15-minute break.
10:30 A.M. - Kimberly Dannenberger, a Metro forensic scientist, has been called in by the state.
“There is more weight for the hypothesis or scenario that it is Robert Telles and Jeffrey German versus Jeffrey German and an unknown contributor,” Dannenberger said during her testimony.
Dannenberger did mention the lack of connections between the two of them.
- German’s DNA not found in the Yukon Denali
- German’s clothes also did not have Telles’ DNA on it
10:06 A.M. - Another Metro forensic lab scientist trainee, Melanie Koljenovic, is on the stand now. She analyzed the swabs from the gray Nike shoes and the scissors used to cut one of the shoes.
“I did not receive the item or look at the item or determine where to swab, the swabs were given to me,” she said in response to district attorney Pamela Weckerly’s question. “The swab from the bottom right shoe was positive for presumptive blood,” Koljenovic added.
“Two of the pieces for the shoe was negative presumptive for blood and two of the pieces of the shoe were positive for presumptive for blood,” Koljenovic explained.
Defense Robert Draskovich then asks, “What other substances other than blood may create or cause a presumptive positive.” Koljenovic replied, “There may be rust, rust is also known. Animal blood could also be positive but will produce no DNA results due to us having a human-specific DNA testing kit.”
9:45 A.M. - The state calls in Anastasia Barton, a forensic scientist trainee for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. She examined Jeff German’s fingernail clippings.
9:38 A.M. - Court is back in session.
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