A former Las Vegas official was sentenced to serve at least 28 years in prison for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female co-worker. Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Robert Telles for the September 2022 murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German. A jury had found Telles guilty and sentenced him to life in prison with eligibility for parole after 20 years. The judge invoked sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon, lying in wait and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that the jury had set, The Guardian reports.
Telles, 47, denied stabbing German to death. Evidence against him was strong, including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails. Telles was the elected administrator of a county office that handles unclaimed estate and probate property cases. He has been jailed without bail since his arrest several days after the attack. German, 69, was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Telles lost his primary for a second term after German’s stories described turmoil and bullying at the office Telles led, as well as a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. Telles’s law license was suspended after his arrest. Telles testified for several rambling hours at his trial, saying he was “framed” by a broad conspiracy involving a real estate company, police, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others. He told the jury he was victimized for crusading to root out corruption.
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