Jury selection starts on Monday for a former Las Vegas area politician accused of killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his office.

Robert Telles, a former Clark County bailiff, has been jailed since his September 2022 arrest, days after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found slashed and stabbed outside his home over the 2022 Labor Day weekend.

German, 69, became the only journalist killed in the United States among at least 67 news media workers killed worldwide that year, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Originally from Milwaukee, German had spent 44 years developing deep confidential sources on Las Vegas, its government and its courthouses.

He was widely respected for reporting on the courts, organized crimegovernment corruption, political scandals and mass shootings, first in the Las Vegas Sun and then in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Prosecutors say articles he wrote in early 2022 about Telles and a county office in turmoil were a motive for the murder.

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German was found cut and stabbed to death in a side yard outside his home, where Telles is accused in a criminal complaint of “lying in wait” for German to come out.

Telles, 47, was arrested days later, after police circulated video of a person wearing an orange work shirt and a wide-brimmed straw hat carrying a shoulder bag and walking toward German’s home.

Police also released photos of a distinctive maroon SUV that a Review-Journal photographer saw Telles washing outside his home several days after the murder.

Telles grew up in El Paso, Texas, and lived in Colorado before moving to Las Vegas. He became an attorney in 2015 and ran as a Democrat in 2018 to become Clark County property manager. He lost his elected position after the arrest and his law license was suspended. He has pleaded not guilty to open murder and faces life in prison if convicted. He has been in jail while he prepared to face a jury.

“It turned everything upside down,” Tom Pitaro, a veteran Las Vegas defense attorney, told The Associated Press about German’s death.

Pitaro also taught Telles at the law school about a decade ago at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“When you have a public official, a respected journalist and the type of murder it was, I think people are in shock as to how this could happen,” Pitaro said.

“He has been looking forward to the trial,” Telle’s defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, said ahead of Monday’s arraignment, according to The Associated Press. “He wants to tell his story.”

More than 100 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires about what they heard about German’s killing and Telle’s arrest. Interviewing and empaneling 12 jurors and several alternates can take several days. The testimony is expected to take less than two weeks. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

First, however, Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt will hear a final request Monday to dismiss the case against Telles and suspend the trial.

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In a court filing, Telles claims he was illegally detained by police prior to his arrest, police body-worn camera video of the traffic stop when he was wrongfully arrested was deleted, and hospital blood samples taken after his arrest and treatment for what he has called self-inflicted cuts to his wrists were entered into evidence in his case.

Leavitt rejected other requests to dismiss the case, while Telles hired and fired attorneys and served as his own defense attorney. Telles twice tried to have Leavitt removed from her case, claiming she was biased against him.

Prosecutors say they have strong evidence, including DNA believed to be from Telles found under German’s fingernails and cut up pieces of a straw hat and shoes found in Telle’s house that were similar to those worn by the person seen on video outside German’s home.

Telles wanted his trial to proceed quickly, but progress was delayed in part by a legal battle the Review-Journal took to the state Supreme Court to protect public disclosure of confidential sources on German’s cellphone and computers. The newspaper argued that names and unpublished material were protected from disclosure by the First Amendment and Nevada state law.

Police claimed their investigation would not be complete until the units were searched for possible evidence. The court gave the newspaper, its lawyers and consultants time to review the files first.

An attorney representing the Review-Journal told the judge last week that the review will be completed in time to turn over records to police, prosecutors and Telle’s attorneys before jury selection begins.

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Telles also wants Leavitt to issue an order blocking testimony at the trial of a hostile workplace and discrimination lawsuit four women have filed in federal court against Telles and Clark County.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.