LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state 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 coworker.
A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon, laying in wait and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Robert Telles guilty of murder.
Telles, 47, testified in his defense and denied stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But evidence against him was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails.
At the time, 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.
Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, has said Telles intends to appeal his conviction.
German was 69. He was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Telles lost his primary for a second term in office after German’s stories in May and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.
Police sought public help to identify a person captured on neighborhood security video driving a maroon SUV and walking while wearing a broad straw hat that hid his face and an oversized orange long-sleeve shirt. Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly showed footage of the person wearing orange slipping into the side yard where German was stabbed, slashed and left dead.
At Telles’ house, police found a maroon SUV and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and a gray athletic shoe that looked like those worn by the person seen on neighborhood video. Authorities did not find the orange long-sleeve shirt or a murder weapon.
Telles testified for several rambling hours at his trial, admitting for the first time that reports of the office romance were true. He denied killing German and said 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
“I am not the kind of person who would stab someone. I didn’t kill Mr. German,” Telles said. “And that’s my testimony.”
But evidence against Telles was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner said Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Telles told the jury he took a walk and went to a gym at the time German was killed. But evidence showed Telles’ wife sent text messages to him about the same time killed asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked.
The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over three days before finding Telles guilty. The panel heard pained sentencing hearing testimony from German’s brother and two sisters, along with emotional pleas for leniency from Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother, before deciding that Telles could be eligible for parole.
Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt was able to add up to eight years to Telles’ sentence for using a deadly weapon in a willful, deliberate, premeditated killing; because German was older than 60 years old; and for lying in wait before the attack.
District Attorney Steve Wolfson said he was “hopeful and confident” 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 believe he is an extreme danger to the community if he is ever released.”
German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.
Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the committee, said in August that Telles’ conviction sent “an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated.”
Telles’ attorney, Robert Draskovich, has said Telles intends to appeal his conviction.
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