Nevada politician given life sentence for reporter’s murder
A former Nevada politician has been convicted of first-degree murder for killing a journalist who had written critical articles about his tenure in office.
Robert Telles, 47, has been in custody since 2022 for the fatal stabbing of Jeff German, an investigative journalist with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
During the trial, prosecutors presented DNA evidence found under Mr. German’s fingernails, which they said matched Telles, who had pleaded not guilty.
After two days of deliberation, a jury of 12 returned a guilty verdict on Wednesday. Hours later, the same jury sentenced Telles to life in prison.
Telles, who was elected as the Clark County public administrator in 2018, appeared emotionless in court as the judge summoned the jury. He then lowered his head as the guilty verdict was announced.
“The jury unanimously finds the murder to be willful, deliberate, and premeditated,” juror number two told the court.
Telles received a life sentence in a separate hearing later on Wednesday. He will be eligible for parole after serving 20 years in prison.
The seven women and five men that composed the jury deliberated for roughly 12 hours, beginning on Monday, before the panel reached its conclusion.
The trial had stretched across two weeks.
Testimony in court came from dozens of witnesses, including detectives, forensic experts, those who knew the ex-politician, and Telles himself.
He alleged that he had been framed.
“This thing has been kind of a nightmare,” he said about a week into the trial. “I want to say unequivocally – I’m innocent. I didn’t kill Mr German.”
In September 2022, Mr German, 69, was found after he had been stabbed seven times in the neck and torso outside his Nevada home.
Prosecutors accused Telles of killing Mr German over unflattering articles the journalist had written about his behaviour as an elected official.
One alleged that Telles had an “inappropriate” relationship with a member of his staff, and several others alleged hostile behaviour in his Las Vegas office.
Telles, a Democrat, lost his primary for a second term as public administrator in 2022 after Mr German’s stories were published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal ahead of the election.
Security footage recovered by police and shown to the jury caught Mr German’s assailant wearing a large, straw hat and sneakers outside the journalist’s home.
Authorities later found the remnants of similar items at Telles’s house, though they had been cut up.
The prosecution alleged that it was Telles who had appeared in the security video, claiming that he had hid in the bushes outside Mr German’s house and then attempted to dispose of evidence.
Telles’s defense attorneys argued that the shredded evidence had been planted at the ex-politician’s home as part of an effort to frame their client. They disputed that Mr German’s articles were “a motive for a murder”.
But prosecutors shared the DNA evidence, a timeline and video of Telles’s SUV driving on the streets near Mr German’s home just before his murder. The driver of the car is wearing an outfit similar to the one worn by the person seen in the security footage.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson celebrated the jury’s decision.
“The jury hit the ball out of the park this time,” he said. “They hit a home run by getting the right verdict.”
A veteran reporter, Mr German had spent more than four decades covering the city and corruption.
He had one more article to publish about Telles at the time of his death.
Glenn Cook, the executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, issued a statement that said the “jury delivered a measure of justice” for Mr German with its verdict.
“Jeff (German) was killed for doing the kind of work in which he took great pride: His reporting held an elected official accountable for bad behavior and empowered voters to choose someone else for the job.”
