Law&Crime Sidebar - Teen Lured to Her Death by Student She Got Expelled from School: ‘Get Shovels Ready’

Episode Date: August 23, 2024

Owen Shover, now 23, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Aranda Briones, 16, in Moreno Valley, California. Prosecutors say Briones and Shover had been skipping school back in 2017 when a truancy officer approached them. Shover tried to get Briones to hide a gun for him, but Briones told the officer what happened. Both students were expelled from the high school. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber takes a closer look at the alleged revenge killing with attorney and former FBI agent Bobby Chacon.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. And right now I want to say unequivocally, I'm innocent. I didn't kill Mr. German. And I've got a lot to share with you. Sometimes getting on the stand as a defendant's best choice to convince the jury they're innocent. Then there are other times, it can backfire. We're taking a look at the case of a former county leader accused of violently stabbing a Las Vegas reporter to death who was doing stories on him, and he testifies that there's no way he could be the killer. Welcome to Sidebar. Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber.

Okay, so we want to start off with kind of a strange note here about this story. story. We have been covering this grisly murder case out in Las Vegas since 2022. But in just the last few days, the defendant has seemingly started saying his name differently. Your Honor, our final witness is Mr. Robert Pallas. I've confirmed with Rob Barron. We're going to ask the court's permission to allow him to testify by a narrative. Okay. That is fine. Anything else? Before we bring the jury panel in. Not in beyond the state, Your Honor.

We and Mr. Tell us can take the stand. Please state, dispel your first and last name from Hartford. Robert Teus, first name is Robert, R-O-B-E-R-T, last name is Teas, T-E-R-E-R-T-E-S. Yeah, for most of the proceedings leading up to this, it's been TELUS, Robert Tellus. But now, the defendant says it's pronounced Teas, so we're just going to be going with that, Robert Teas. All right. So Robert Teus is now on trial in Nevada right now, and he's accused of killing a local investigative news reporter, 69-year-old Jeff Gehrman from the Las Vegas Review Journal. Why? Well, prosecutors say it was revenge, retribution for negative stories that Garman had written about Teas and his office.

We'll get to that in a second, but it has been two years, almost to the day, that Garman was found dead outside of his Las Vegas home on September 3, 2022. Investigators believe he was actually killed the day before, and they say former Clark County Public Administrator, Robert Teas, was the one wielding the knife, an elected official. Now, a neighborhood surveillance camera captured part of this attack, and this is crucial, this is critical, because you are able to see someone in a large straw hat and an orange reflective vest on September 2nd. Police say when they released photos from that surveillance video to the public, a bunch of tips came in. And they started saying that you should look at Robert Teus, that he might be involved. Now, Teus said he's innocent, that he went for a walk and to the gym during the time that German was killed. But back to that motive that I mentioned about why Robert Teus would want to go after Jeff German. According to prosecutors, things were not going well at the county office that Teus Supervisor.

which handled probate matters. And Teus says he was trying to fight corruption within the office, but German's reporting indicated there was a culture of bullying intention. And German also reported on an alleged affair that Teus was having with a subordinate in the office, and he was allegedly working on a follow-up piece to that story when he was killed. And by the way, after German's articles came out, Teus lost his 22 primary bid for a second term.

So you can get the idea of a motive here. But Teus maintains that he was framed for German's killing. By who? That's a great question. And this is a new one. He says that a local real estate company, compass realty, that they are responsible. So Teus says he was investigating bribery allegations involving the company and things have gotten contentious. And I want you to keep that in mind because we'll explore that in a little bit.

Now, the state rested on Monday after bringing in 12. 28 witnesses, hundreds of pages and pieces of evidence, including evidence that DNA belonging to Robert Teus was seemingly found underneath German's fingernails. Teas, by the way, charged with murder with a deadly weapon against a victim aged 60 year older. If convicted, he faces life in prison. By the way, Teus is himself an attorney, and that's going to be an important point, as you'll see. He practiced civil law until he was elected to the county administrator position in 2018. His law license, though, was suspended when he was arrested for German's murder,

but this is why it's important. Because at one point after his arrest, Teus seemingly wanted to go pro se and represent himself. Now, he later decided to have a defense attorney. Robert Draskovic handled the case. But Teus insisted on testifying in his own defense, which, of course, it's his right to do, his decision. his attorney though strongly advised against it because seemingly you have that difference of opinion here

in an unusual move the judge gave taeus permission to testify by way of narration so that means instead of the typical question and answer format with his defense attorney teus could go up on the stand and just talk and share his story with the jurors now we can't really give an opinion but he can lay out his version of events. So, on Wednesday of this week, he gets on the stand, and he speaks for about an hour and a half before court adjourned for the day. Somebody frame me for this, and I believe that it's compostality. And I believe it's for the work that I've done against them. Mr. German's article, his first article, comes out. And I think we have those text messages from me from the day that I saw the article, where I was upset.

And I think, you know, anybody who's the subject of an article that says certain things about you, I mean, could reasonably feel upset about it, right? And I lost the primary. You know, it was a bummer. I mean, sorry, I don't know. You know, it was unfortunate. But I continued to fight against Compass Realty,

and I think that that's something that they didn't expect. But the fact that Mr. Irma was killed and was put on me, that they just had a serendipitous benefit from that. Hey, we really appreciate you coming to us for this story, and Robert Tayas, quite the story. But also, when you come to us here at Sidebar, we also get the opportunity to tell you about some of our amazing partners, like our sponsor, Noble Gold.

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your gold IRA, it has never been easier with noble gold investment streamlined process, and and expert guidance. And right now, Noble Gold will give you a 10-ounce silver American flag bar if you open a qualified account. So go to longcrimegold.com now. That's longcrimegold. Dot com or call them at 877 646-5347. Mention law and crime. There's always a risk of investment and no guarantee of any kind. A little side note here, by the way. The way that I understand it, essentially, the jury would have to believe that compass realty, aside from specializing in real estate transactions, that they are specialists in murder and DNA extraction and framing.

I don't know, maybe they kind of outsource that kind of thing. It's a wild claim to make. Then again, if the prosecution is saying, jury, we want you to believe that a former elected official murdered a journalist out in the open because of negative stories, maybe this jury would be open to this alternative theory. Now, when Teus continued his testimony on Thursday, he told the jury that after his arrest, which he says shocked him, he had considered suicide. Then I walked into the house, and what I saw hit me even harder. So I found my wife sitting on the floor at our bedroom in the blue of this mess.

And so this for me was, you know, the thing that just broke me. I, I'm sorry, I knew I didn't do this thing. And yet the police claim to have this evidence did what they did to me. And I have a million-dollar life insurance policy. I didn't want my family to have to go through more torture. And so I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought, you know what, if I can avoid the pain

that they're going to suffer during this whole circus and put some money into their hands to make up for, Me, not being there, then maybe this is the thing to do. But it was, I mean, never, I'm not guilty. I didn't kill Mr. German. So, but as you can see, I attempted suicide. And SWAT came in and pulled me out and put me into that ambulance. So in other words, he didn't want to harm himself because he's guilty of killing Jeff German,

but because of the situation he was in. And that's a similar argument that we've heard when defendants, for example, flee authorities or they're trying to leave the country. The argument is they panicked. They felt that they were being framed. They felt their lives were in danger. It doesn't mean that they're guilty of the crime. Okay. I will tell you, one of the pieces of physical evidence that the state has presented and focused on, involved a single gray athletic shoe.

This was found cut into pieces inside of a bag. underneath Teas' couch after his arrest. The idea is that the shoe matches what that mysterious figure in the orange vest and straw hat was wearing in the surveillance video. Also, by the way, the prosecution says pieces of a straw hat were found in Teus' home, too. So Teus's testimony, it took kind of a strange detour on Thursday when he talked to the jury about the kinds of shoes he wears. Your Honor, may I just stand up for one moment to show the jury why I didn't wear name brand shoes at the office? Just for a moment and... You just want to stand up right where I'm at.

Yes. Okay. So, I don't know if you notice the height difference. I wear lifts in my shoes but I'm about six foot five and a half and call it a vanity thing, right? I just wanted to feel a little taller. And so if I may just demonstrate

why this is important. So these shoes that have built in lifts they're designed in a certain way where they don't slip off a person's foot when you're wearing them. You can see how this is so elongated because there's a lift in here. So you can't put, it's not, you know, from when I've tried,

I could not put a lift in an A brand shoe because that shoe would slip right off. There's not enough of the back of this once that lifts in there in order to grab a hold of your foot. So essentially I'd be kicking my shoes off every time I walk. So, you know, I never wore, again, any type of name brand shoe at the office, and I think that that's something that will likely be discussed at closing and how that's relevant.

I've never beat anybody up. I've never killed anybody. I didn't kill Mr. Berman. And that's my testimony. When Teus wrapped up his narration on Thursday, it was then time for him to face questions from the prosecution on cross-examination, right? You don't just get on the stand and say what you want to say. No, you will face questions from opposing counsel. And the prosecutor questioned how Teus could think that the killer was a hired assassin when he was wearing pretty conspicuous clothing.

You have mentioned one of the things that struck you was you watched the autopsy or you saw the autopsy photos and you were you were struck by the violence of it, correct? No, sir. No, you did not. Did you, were you bothered by the photographs? I was. Why is that? Grusome. I'm not used to seeing dead people.

Okay. I think you said it was ugly. Is that correct? I may have. All right. And you had told this jury that you felt like, it looked like someone who knew what they were doing. Is that right? Yes, sir.

You believe this was a professional hit? And that's what I believe. And you believe this killer is kind of almost like a, I mean, someone hired to do this job, like an assassin, essentially, right? That is what I believe, yes, sir. Now, I want to take a look at this picture for a second. The assassin seems to be wearing a giant sun hat. It's a pretty big hat, right? Yes, sir.

Fairly noticeable, right? Yes, sir. Do you think that might attract attention? I would think so. Okay, but this is a professional? Right. And this professional is also wearing a bright orange shirt. white, orange shirt, correct?

Yes, sir. Professional? Yes, sir. But wouldn't that attract attention? I think that's part of the reason, actually. If I could elaborate. No, no, no. You believe that professional assassins want to draw attention to themselves

when they're carrying out murder. When they're framing someone, yes, sir. So the answer to my question is yes. You believe professional assassins like to draw attention to themselves. It depends on what the nature of their goal is, and if it's to frame someone, yes, sir. So the answer to my question is yes. Yes, absolutely. Okay.

The prosecutor also pointed out that, according to them, Teus is connected to a car that's almost identical to the car believed to be driven by the killer. Okay. Now, if we could queue back over to the PowerPoint presentation, let's look at these windows. Bottom right hand corner, sir. The front windows are not tinted, are they? No, sir. But the back ones are, aren't they? Yes, sir. Okay. Let's cue over to your car.

Your front windows are not tinted, correct? That is correct, sir. And your back ones are, correct? That is correct, sir. Okay. Coincidence? I don't think so. I think the killer got a car like mine.

Okay. So you would agree, your car looks exactly like the killer's car. No, sir. No, it doesn't. There's the difference with that paint on the lower left-hand side that Mr. Maga testified about. Okay, let's talk about other similarities. We've seen footage from the video with the visor down, right? Yes, sir. I mean, I could pull up the slide, but we don't need to because you remember seeing it on the survey, on the on the videos, right? Right, absolutely, sir. Okay, publishing 317. And look at that. Your visor's down, correct? Yes, sir. Okay. You're suggesting that your professional hitman in the funny hat knew about your visor as well? I'm saying that Mr. Mogg pulled my visor down. Ah, but you didn't see that, did you, sir? I didn't see him do it, but... Right.

You didn't see it with your own two eyes, correct? That is correct. You're just telling it out of a whole cloth, correct? You're speculating. Isn't that right? I'm speculating just to the extent of who exactly did it. Right. Right.

You don't even know who it was. Correct? It could have been another officer, yes. Okay. So you believe that it must have been the police, but you never witnessed anything like that happened. Correct? I just know that I did not commit the murder, so that could not have been...

Okay. I understand you're not taking responsibility, sir, but just to go back to my question, you never saw anyone manipulate your car, correct? I never saw anyone first hand, no. Thank you. But the visor is down, just like the killer. Anyone could have moved at any point in time, sir? The answer to my question is yes.

my question is yes, the visor is down just like the killer's Yukon, correct? Anyone could have moved it at any point? So the answer to my question is yes. The visor is down just like the killer's car. You're talking about, obviously, at this point in time. Your visor is down in your Yukon, just like the Killers' Yukon, correct? Again, without knowing who did it, yes. Thank you.

And another damning piece of evidence against Teus is what I mentioned before, that allegedly his DNA was found underneath German's fingernails. There's one thing I didn't hear you mention. The DNA. I'd like to talk about that with you. You're not disputing that your DNA is underneath Mr. German's fingernails, are you? Yes, I am. Okay.

But you've heard the testimony. It's there, correct? I don't know if it was there or at what point it might have gotten there. sir. Okay. I'm not asking you how it got there. Are you really denying that your DNA is underneath the fingernails? Without knowing the truth, yes I am. Okay, well you've heard witnesses testify. Right. So you, oh, let the DNA labs in on it too? I don't know. I don't know. At what point, I don't know what point this sample is collected. Sir, please tell this jury, how in the world does your DNA get underneath Mr. German's fingernails? I don't know because I did not kill Mr. German. You have no idea how it could.

have gotten underneath your fingernails, correct? Under my fingers? I'm sorry, under his fingernails, correct? I don't know that it ever was, sir. All right, let's do it another way. You and Mr. Gamerin are not friends, are you? No. Okay, you don't hang out with him ever?

Sir, I did not ever hang out with Mr. Irma when he was alive. My question is yes. You didn't hang out with him ever, correct? I did not. He's never invited you over to his house. No, sir. You've never hung out, had drinks at a bar, correct? No, sir.

There would be really no option. for him ever to put his hands on you in any sort of social situation, correct? Correct, sir. And yet, these two people who are not friends, your DNA just happens to be underneath his fingernails. Correct? No, sir. Okay.

You just don't think it was legitimately placed there, correct? Or are you just ignoring the testimony of all of the witnesses that talked about how your DNA was underneath the fingernails? Again, at some point in another, I believe it was planted because I did not kill Mr. German. So- And by that logic, if you believe it was planted, you were at least admitting, yes, my DNA is underneath his fingernails, correct? Can you at least agree with me on that? Whether it came from a sample of the fingernails or a different sample altogether, I don't know.

I couldn't tell you, sir. But the answer to my question is yes. You're at least acknowledging my physical DNA is underneath the fingernails. No, sir. Okay, great. So you're just going to disregard what all the other DNA witnesses said about this. Correct. You know, that's fair. That's fine. Totally fine.

Prosecutor also pushed back against Teyce's theory that Las Vegas metropolitan police planted the evidence in this case. Before we move on, I'm going to ask you this too. So, um, so like if Metro's really, so you think Metro's framing you for this? As I said before, I think that we've got some officers who are overzealous and who've decided to help Jappy plug holes in his case. not knowing what his relationship was with pompous reality. Here, I have an objection, sir, if you'd be allowed to answer the question. Okay. Next question, please. Sir, I got a question for you.

If the Las Vegas metropolitan police department wanted to frame you, why didn't they put the murder weapon in the house? I think that maybe, I don't know. I mean, it's a good question. I mean... Great question, because if the murder weapon that had Garmin's DNA was inside your house, wouldn't that be an even better case? Yeah, but at the same time, I think if...

But it's not there, is it? No. No, it's not. Even though, according to you, they control everything, they don't put the murder weapon on you? Does that make any sense? I think it does. Okay.

How about this? If Compass Realty wants to kill you, why don't they encourage Metro, like we'd really like you to put the murder weapon in there? Why didn't they do something like that? I don't know. That seems really odd that the most... significant thing is not in your house, correct?

I think what's odd is that five days after the murder, that supposedly there was a shoe and also a hat in my house. So the answer to my question, the most significant piece of evidence, the murder weapon, is not in your house despite your theory you've been framed. That's correct, sir. According to the prosecution, more than 100 downloaded images of German were found on Teus's phone, downloaded before the journalist was. killed. A digital forensics tech with the police department also testified that another

132 images on Teus' phone were from Google Maps showing German's home and the street he lived on. Teus reportedly looked up German's vehicle registration, his address on his work computer. Once again, Teus claimed it was planted. Sir, do you find it a little bit strange that when you find information that's helpful for you in your phone, you don't think. there's a problem with it. But when there's damaging evidence in your phone, you believe maybe it's been hacked or compromised? I do think that if someone was trying to frame you, that obviously they would leave the content that I made on the phone as well as whatever they decided

to put on there. Well, the prosecutor isn't done with Mr. Teus yet. No, the defendant is back on the stand again at the time of this recording. We will, of course, keep following this case for you. And if there are big developments, we will bring them to you here on sidebar. What a case. What a case. That's all we have for you right now. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

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