Suspect in reporter’s slaying seeks judge’s removal
A former public official accused of killing Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German is again asking for a new judge to oversee his impending murder trial.
Robert Telles, the 47-year-old ousted Clark County public administrator, filed court papers this week accusing District Judge Michelle Leavitt of a “deep-seated favoritism for the Clark County District Attorney and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department that has made and will continue to make fair judgement impossible.”
Authorities have said that Telles stabbed German outside the reporter’s home in September 2022 over articles German had written about his conduct as an elected official.
Telles is acting as his own attorney and has pleaded not guilty to a murder charge. His motion repeated claims that Leavitt has shown bias against him, and that he has been the victim of police misconduct throughout the investigation.
The motion claimed that the judge’s bias would “very likely cause her to make future rulings that will substantially violate Defendant’s constitutional right to a fair and impartial jury trial.”
“Further, this Court’s failure to disqualify Judge Leavitt may be seen as an implicit endorsement of her misconduct, potentially casting additional negative light on the Nevada judiciary beyond the negative light caused by Judge Leavitt’s misconduct,” he wrote in the motion.
Telles filed a similar motion earlier this year asking for Leavitt’s removal, which District Judge Jerry Wiese dismissed in March. The chief judge found that a “reasonable person, knowing all the facts, would not question Judge Leavitt’s impartiality,” and that Telles had failed to prove that Leavitt was biased against him.
Telles’ court filing also accused the judge of allowing prosecutors to embarrass him and ask him questions to appear like he “did not know what he was talking about.”
Since his arrest in September 2022, Telles has gone through a series of attorneys, including firing his public defender for private attorneys.
German had written a series of stories detailing allegations of bullying and retaliation by Telles in the public administrator’s office, plus evidence of an affair between Telles and a co-worker. Telles lost his re-election bid in a primary after the stories ran.
Telles has claimed that what prosecutors called “overwhelming evidence” against him was planted at his home. According to prosecutors, the evidence against him includes his DNA that was found under German’s fingernails, and clothing at Telles’ home that matched the description of a man seen wandering German’s neighborhood before he was attacked.
He has repeatedly requested evidence Telles claims will show he was the victim of police misconduct, including evidence related to the timing of search warrants conducted in the aftermath of German’s killing. Telles’ motion to dismiss Leavitt included allegations that she improperly denied his requests for information.
Wiese is set to hear Telles’ motion requesting Leavitt’s disqualification during a hearing on Jan. 11, court records show.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Review-Journal editor David Ferrara contributed to this report.
