LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada judge ruled Wednesday not to punish Las Vegas police who first saw the cell phone of a murdered investigative journalist after he was murdered in September, after the state Supreme Court ruled that A decision must be made as to whether to conduct a thorough investigation. A homicide detective’s scrutiny of a reporter’s electronic equipment could inappropriately expose confidential notes and sources.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Levitt said, “We tend to dismiss sanctions petitions because they adversely affect criminal cases.
The judge also ordered the Las Vegas Review-Journal to appoint a third-party special master to review the materials and to pay the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys’ fees and court costs claimed by the paper’s lawyers. declined the request. While discussing the issue, the costs piled up.
Mr. Levitt said the court order not to disclose the classified material was for former Democratic elected county official Robert “Rob” Telles, who was accused of stabbing a German to death outside his home on September 11. said he believed it was sufficient to prevent the release of protected material in the murder case against 2.
Telles, who had been the focus of German-language investigative reporting, was released from his position as a Clark County administrator after his arrest and remains in prison without bail. He has been charged with murder and a jury trial is currently scheduled for April.
On Wednesday, Leavitt did not postpone the trial date, but acknowledged that the police investigation into German’s death was “barely stalled,” with names and unpublished materials potentially listed by the State High Court. I admit that I’m not done until I decide whether or not. German devices are protected from disclosure by First Amendment and Nevada law.
Telles’ new attorney in the murder case, Damien Sheets, attended the hearing but did not speak.
The judge accepted Police Department Prosecutor Matthew Christian’s explanation that the initial search was necessary “immediately after the discovery of the body.”
How Justice Departments, Newspapers, and Teles Judges, Prosecutors, and Attorneys Protect Pledges of Anonymity or Confidentiality to People Who May Be in Murdered Reporter Files We acknowledge that there is little legal precedent for this.
Attorney Ashley Kissinger, who represents Review-Journal, characterized the so-called reporter’s privilege of hiding sources as “essential for a well-functioning democracy.”
Kissinger told the judge, “This is an important aspect of achieving press freedom and independence in the United States, which sets it apart from the rest of the world in the area of freedom of expression.”
Review-Journal obtained a court order in October barring police from accessing the device. The police department appealed the decision.
A judge later said a court order barring the release of information gleaned from Jarman’s device allowed police and prosecutors to close the investigation without violating the confidentiality promises made by the deceased reporter and sought by the newspaper. He said he believed he could.
Leavitt said he “tends” to lift the interim injunction imposed in October and uphold protective orders to “protect the rights of the parties.”
“So you guys can take this to the Supreme Court,” she said.
Christian assured Levitt that investigators had access to Jarman’s cell phone shortly after he was found dead, but that homicide investigators had not conducted a thorough forensic investigation. He said a phone and five other computer devices obtained with a warrant from the German’s home remained in police custody.
“Until we have some kind of court approval, we are not going to proceed,” said Christian.
The 69-year-old German has spent more than 40 years as an investigative reporter in Las Vegas covering courts, politics, labor, government and organized crime. He joined his Review-Journal in 2010 after working for his Sun in rival Las Vegas for over 20 years.
Prosecutors said the physical evidence against Telles was overwhelming, including DNA believed to be Telles’s found under the German’s fingernails, and a man believed to be Telles around the time of the murder. Includes video of a walk near the house, and a vehicle believed to be Telles’ area.
According to the grand jury transcript, prosecutors presented photographs and video showing a man with a gray duffel bag walking into the side yard of the German’s home before the German went there. A police detective presented what he described as a “disturbance” in the garden.
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