A former Las Vegas politician was convicted Wednesday of killing a journalist who exposed wrongdoing in his office and was sentenced to life in prison.
Robert Telles, who was Clark County’s public administrator until he lost his bid for reelection in 2022 after veteran Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German wrote about extensive issues in his office, will be eligible for parole after 20 years, KLAS reported.
Telles, 47, argued during his trial that police made several errors during their investigation and that he was framed for German’s murder. Prosecutors focused on Telles’s extreme anger over German’s reporting.
The jury of seven women and five men spent nearly 12 hours deliberating before returning the unanimous guilty verdict, the Review-Journal reported. It took them another hour to come to the sentence.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said the verdict should “send a message.”
“And that message is a clear message that any attempts to silence the media or to silence or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated,” he said.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, investigators found German stabbed to death outside his Las Vegas home on September 3, 2022, and focused on Telles, who was reportedly furious about articles German had written exposing issues in Telles’ office.
A neighbor discovered German’s body at the side of his house with seven knife wounds to his neck and torso, police said. The attack was captured on a security camera across the street, showing the killer crouching beside German’s gate before ambushing him as he opened his garage door.
German’s stories in the Review-Journal exposed a toxic work culture in Telles’s office that included an alleged inappropriate relationship with one of his subordinates. German also filed public records requests for more documentation for his investigation.
Telles publicly disputed German’s stories, Chief Deputy District Attorney Pam Weckerly said in her opening statement at the trial.
After the verdict, Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook released a statement to KLAS saying that Telles’s conviction brings “a measure of justice” for the slain reporter and “some solace to his family, friends, and colleagues.”
“Jeff 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,” he said.
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[Featured image: Left, Jeff German/Wikicommons and Robert Telles/Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department]
