The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled in favor of protecting slain Las Vegas reporter Jeff German's personal devices from an unchecked police inquiry, instead calling for an independent team to look through his devices as part of the murder investigation.
It's a press freedom win for newsroom members who are still grappling one year later with the killing of their colleague.
"There's just relief and happiness among our staff. This case was so important for us because it had ramifications far beyond our own organization," Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, told VOA.
Longtime Review-Journal reporter German was found stabbed to death outside his home in September 2022. Soon afterward, police arrested Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator.
German had reported on alleged mismanagement in Telles' office. Telles then lost a reelection bid in June 2022. The former official has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and remains in the Clark County Detention Center without bail.
After German was killed, the Review-Journal said, city police investigating the crime seized his phone and five computers, which may contain sensitive information, such as the names of anonymous sources. The Review-Journal and press freedom groups were concerned that if police were given unchecked access to the devices, it would set a legal precedent allowing reporters' private materials to be accessed after they were killed.
The murder of a journalist "is always a shocking tragedy," said Grayson Clary, a staff attorney at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in Washington.
"In this case, Las Vegas law enforcement threatened to compound that extraordinary violation of press freedom by violating the confidentiality of Mr. German's newsgathering materials," Clary told VOA.
In the decision, the justices also wrote that the state's shield law — which protects reporters from being forced to reveal confidential information, such as anonymous sources — continues to apply after a journalist dies. To rule otherwise would "be directly contrary to the statute's purpose," the ruling said.
"That, for me, is the single most important part of this ruling," Cook said. "To have that written very clearly in a Nevada Supreme Court ruling is exceptionally important for press freedom everywhere."
Independent review
The Supreme Court justices rejected a proposed search protocol that District Judge Michelle Leavitt had approved. The protocol would have allowed for two detectives and two prosecutors to search the devices.
Instead, the high court remanded the case back to the district court and called for the lower court to execute the Review-Journal's proposed plan. In that protocol, an independent team would first search German's devices for any information related to confidential sources or sensitive unpublished information.
Press freedom groups welcomed the court's decision.
Clary said, "The Nevada Supreme Court's ruling lays down an important marker on an issue we hope will rarely come up in the future, which is that the importance of the reporter's privilege survives the death of the individual reporter and continues to protect the confidentiality of their sources and their work."
The Freedom of the Press Foundation said in a statement, "Confidential sources need to be able to talk to journalists without fearing that they'll be outed if the journalist dies."
Although journalists in the United States are facing increased risks, including online harassment, killings are quite rare.
The Committee to Protect Journalists documented at least 67 killings of journalists and media workers around the world in 2022 alone, but the press freedom group has documented just 17 cases in the United States since it began tracking killings in 1992.
The trial against Telles is set to begin in November. But Telles, who is representing himself, last week requested a delay of four to six months, partially because he has not received information from German's devices.
The tragedy of German's death is still raw for his colleagues, but Cook said the court's recent decision was an "overwhelming relief."
"Jeff would be very happy with this decision," Cook said. "Jeff would be appalled if he thought his death could compromise the sources that he held so closely."
