When Las Vegas reporter Jeff German was hot on a case, former Clark County District Attorney David Roger recalls, he rang his phone every day – often several times – in pursuit of the story.

Like so many in the Southern Nevada community, Roger was shocked to learn of German’s Sept. 2 murder, allegedly at the hands of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles. The reporter had written articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal that dug into employee complaints accusing Telles of workplace harassment and maintaining an inappropriate relationship with a favored staffer. Telles wound up losing his re-election bid and blamed German for his defeat.

Unlike most locals, Roger brings not only his first-hand working knowledge of German’s relentless reporting style, but decades of prosecutorial experience as well. After representing the state in the nationally prominent first Ted Binion murder trial and the O.J. Simpson robbery case, Roger also understands the challenges of high-profile prosecutions.

After a lightning response from Metro Homicide detectives collected damaging physical evidence against Telles, who is accused of “lying in wait” for the victim, the murder case has reverberated nationally at a particularly difficult time for the working press. While authorities aren’t talking outside court as the case moves toward a scheduled Oct. 26 preliminary hearing, former DA Roger recently took time to share his seasoned perspective about a particularly disturbing murder.

Earlier this month, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Elana Lee Graham, referring to the police report, described the attack as “chilling” with details of the 69-year-old German “fighting for his life.” With signs of premeditation and so much physical evidence, including Telles’ DNA found under German’s fingernails, Roger says the defense is likely to focus on the defendant’s mental status around the time the crime was committed.

“I think this has got to be a mental defense for the defendant,” Roger says. “From what we read in the media, and what I know, it is a compelling case of murder in the first degree. And, so, in order to get some type of either negotiation or conviction less than murder in the first degree, you have to go through a mental defense and say, not that he didn’t know right from wrong, but because of certain mental conditions he was unable to premeditate. That is probably what you’re going to see. Right now, they’re probably looking for a psychologist or psychiatrist, or both to conduct tests on the defendant to support that defense.”

And even if defense medical experts are only partially persuasive, Roger says, “it provides mitigation for a penalty phase. In Nevada, the jury has to determine punishment in cases of murder in the first degree. I don’t know if the prosecution will seek the death penalty in this case, but even if they don’t, they’ll have a penalty hearing. That type of evidence will be what the defense is looking for.”

What the defense isn’t looking for is more media exposure facilitated by the accused. Telles recently gave a series of jailhouse press interviews against the wishes of his attorney, Travis Shetler, who has since withdrawn from the case. Although the status could change, Telles is currently represented by experienced members of the Clark County Public Defender’s Office.

“Often it’s difficult with high-profile defendants to manage them from a defense standpoint,” Roger says. “I’m certain that if his defense attorney had any say in this, he would not have been giving interviews from the Clark County Detention Center.”

In addition to whatever the defendant said, or mostly didn’t say, with a jury trial anticipated the power of first impressions in the media has to be appreciated, Roger says, because it’s likely to be remembered by the triers of fact.

“I would hope that his defense attorney would have told him to have the appropriate demeanor in court without his smug look as he came in for one of his court appearances,” he says. “That is not going to be helpful because that is the video that the media will play over and over and over again. You have (prospective) jurors out there who will be watching the news, and will have an impression of his smugness.”

In a post-COVID pandemic legal system bursting at the seams with delayed murder cases, there is a real potential for the Telles case to languish. For the first time in memory, Roger says, the caseloads have compelled the DA’s office to mediate murder cases where appropriate to decrease backlogs.

Time may be one of the only allies the defense enjoys.

“The defense always wants to delay the case,” the former prosecutor says. “Sometimes for tactical reasons, other times to prepare. [In this case,] they’re going to need time to prepare their mental defense. That will take some time. From a tactical standpoint … you want this media to die down before you get this to a jury trial. I don’t know that it will because it’s such a high-profile case. But that’s another reason the defense will want to stall the process.”

If Roger is right, justice for a murdered reporter could be a long time coming.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to 1881. His stories have appeared in Time, Readers Digest, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Ruralite and Desert Companion, among others. He also offers weekly commentary on Nevada Public Radio station KNPR.