LAS VEGAS –
A former Las Vegas-area politician has been indicted on a murder charge — which carries the potential of the death penalty — in the killing of a veteran investigative journalist who wrote articles crucial of him and his managerial conduct.
Robert “Rob” Telles, 45, was indicted Thursday and scheduled for arraignment subsequent Wednesday in Clark County District Court, in keeping with court docket data.
One of Telles’ court-appointed legal professionals, Edward Kane, declined to remark concerning the indictment, a transfer by prosecutors which means Telles won’t face a preliminary listening to of proof that had been scheduled subsequent week.
Telles, 45, a Democrat, misplaced his social gathering major in June and has been stripped by court docket order of his place as Clark County Administrator, heading the workplace that handles property of people that die with no will or household contacts.
The state Supreme Court has suspended Telles’ legislation license pending a State Bar of Nevada investigation of allegations that he misappropriated shopper funds.
He was arrested Sept. 7, a number of days after the Sept. 2 stabbing death of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German exterior German’s house. Telles is being held with out bail on the Clark County jail.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has mentioned he’ll decide in coming weeks whether or not Telles, will face the death penalty.
Prosecutors have characterised the proof towards Telles as overwhelming, together with DNA believed to be from Telles discovered beneath German’s fingernails; video displaying a person believed to be Telles strolling close to German’s house; and a car believed to be Telles’ in the realm.
German, 69, was extensively revered for his tenacity, and his colleagues mentioned he was working on follow-up experiences about Telles and the general public administrator’s workplace when he was killed.
A separate case is pending earlier than the state Supreme Court over issues about revealing German’s confidential sources and notes.
A choose has issued an order stopping police from accessing the data, which police, prosecutors and Telles’ protection attorneys say they wish to overview for extra proof — together with the likelihood that somebody different then Telles had a motive to kill German.
The Review-Journal, with backing from dozens of media organizations, argues that the federal government shouldn’t be in a position to entry German’s cellphone and digital units.
The newspaper cites Nevada’s so-called “information defend legislation,” which is among the many strictest in the nation, together with the federal Privacy Protection Act and First Amendment safeguards.
The Review-Journal on Friday reported that Telles was assigned two deputy Clark County public defenders at public expense regardless of reporting to the court docket final month that he and his spouse have been making $20,500 monthly earlier than his arrest and that he owns 5 rental homes in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Property data present the couple additionally personal a Las Vegas house with a taxable worth of greater than $320,000.