Robert Telles, a former Las Vegas-area Democratic lawmaker, was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada State Prison for the murder of an investigative journalist. Jeff German. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter wrote articles criticizing Telles’ conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female colleague.
A judge cited sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon, waiting and the reporter’s age to add eight years to the 20-year minimum sentence set by a jury in August after found Telles. guilty of murder.
During sentencing, Telles spoke to German’s family and offered his condolences, while maintaining that he was innocent, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reported.
Telles, 47, testified in his defense and denied stabbing German to death in September 2022. But the evidence against him was strong – including his DNA under German’s fingernails.
At the time, Telles was the elected administrator of a county office that handles probate and unclaimed property matters. He has been jailed without bail since his arrest days after the attack.
Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, said Telles intends to appeal his conviction.
KM Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Pool/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
German was 69 years old. He was a respected journalist who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Telles lost his primary for a second term after German’s articles in May and June 2022 described unrest and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian’s office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.
Police have asked for the public’s help in identifying a person captured on neighborhood security video driving a brown SUV and walking while wearing a large straw hat that hid his face and an oversized orange long-sleeved shirt. Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly showed footage of the person dressed in orange slipping into the side yard where German was stabbed, slashed and left for dead.
At Telles’ home, police found a brown SUV, cut-up pieces of a straw hat and a gray athletic shoe that resembled those worn by the person seen in the neighborhood video. Authorities found neither the orange long-sleeved shirt nor the murder weapon.
Speaking in his own defense, Telles was unable to explain the elements of the disguise found on his property or his DNA found on German.
Telles testified for several rambling hours, admitting for the first time that reports of the office romance were true. He denied killing German and said he was “set up” by a vast conspiracy involving a real estate company, police, DNA analysts, former colleagues and others. He told the jury he had been the victim of a campaign to root out corruption.
“I’m not the type of person who would stab someone. I didn’t kill Mr. German,” Telles said. “And that’s my testimony.”
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner said Telles accused German of destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Telles told the jury he took a walk and went to a gym around the time German was killed. But evidence showed Telles’ wife texted him around the same time he was killed, asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cell phone at home so he couldn’t find it.
The jury deliberated for nearly 12 hours over three days before finding Telles guilty. The panel heard painful testimony from German’s brother and two sisters, as well as emotional pleas for clemency from Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother, before deciding that Telles might be eligible. on parole.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt was able to add up to eight years in prison to Telles’ sentence for use of a deadly weapon in intentional, willful, premeditated homicide; because the German was over 60 years old; and for waiting before the attack.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was “hopeful and confident” that the judge would impose a sentence that could keep Telles behind bars for the rest of his life.
“This defendant has shown absolutely no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility,” said the Democratic-elected regional prosecutor. “And in fact, his behavior is such that I think he poses an extreme danger to the community if he is ever released.”
German was the only journalist killed in the United States in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The non-profit organization lists 17 media workers killed in the United States since 1992.
Katherine Jacobsen, the committee’s U.S., Canada and Caribbean program coordinator, said in August that Telles’ conviction sent “an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated.”
