Suspect in reporter’s slaying again moves to dismiss case
Weeks before his murder trial is expected to begin, former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles has renewed his efforts to have a judge throw out the charges against him.
Telles, 47, is accused of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German in September 2022 over articles the journalist had written about Telles’ conduct as an elected official. The case has already been highly litigated, but Telles’ defense attorney filed two motions late last week calling for a judge to dismiss the case or exclude evidence in the upcoming trial.
“My client was adamant that these several motions be filed in order to protect the record,” defense attorney Robert Draskovich told the Review-Journal on Monday.
Although one motion requests that case be dismissed, Draskovich said he does not anticipate that the recent filings will affect the upcoming trial, scheduled to begin Aug. 12.
“We want to go forward on the trial date,” he said.
Prosecutors had not filed a response to the motion as of Monday afternoon.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss the case is currently set for Aug. 21, after the trial start date, but the hearing could be rescheduled in the coming days.
Telles has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge, and has maintained he was framed for German’s killing. Meanwhile, prosecutors have pointed to “overwhelming evidence” against Telles, including his DNA that police said was found underneath German’s fingernails.
In a motion filed Friday, Draskovich argued that police misconduct in the case warrants its dismissal, echoing prior litigation. The motion alleged that detectives made false representations while applying for search warrants, and that Telles was detained for an unreasonable amount of time and subject to “coercive interrogation” before he was arrested.
The motion repeated arguments that police purposefully subjected Telles to uncomfortable circumstances by seizing his pants while he was detained and placing him in a “cold room” at a police station.
“The police here engaged in a coercive interrogation that violated Defendant’s Fourth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights,” Draskovich wrote in the motion. “Despite requests for an attorney and for release, Defendant was detained and interrogated.”
Draskovich also pointed to body-worn camera footage, which officials said has been deleted, that showed Telles being detained during a traffic stop before his arrest later that day.
The motion alleged that failing to preserve evidence can lead to a case’s dismissal, if the defendant can show the state acted in “bad faith.”
Another motion filed last week challenged District Judge Michele Leavitt’s previous decision to allow prosecutors to use Review-Journal articles as evidence during trial.
In February, prosecutors argued that German’s articles should be admitted to show that Telles was upset over the article’s publication, and to show the “dynamics of the prior relationship between Telles and German.”
Telles’ recent motion alleged that the articles contain “false statements that were testimonial as to Defendant’s character.” The motion pointed to a recent federal lawsuit against Clark County and Telles, filed by some county employees mentioned in the articles.
As “proof demonstrating the statements made in the news articles are false,” Telles attached a filing to dismiss the federal lawsuit to the recent motion.
Telles is representing himself in the lawsuit litigation, court records show. In the motion to dismiss the suit, he claimed that the complaint was filed “in an effort to prejudice Telles with prospective jurors in his impending criminal trial.”
Telles also filed his own federal lawsuit in June against the judge presiding over his criminal case, the Metropolitan Police Department, the attorneys prosecuting him and several police officers. The lawsuit claims officials violated his rights and subjected him to false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, court records show.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240.