Former county official gets at least 28 years in prison for killing Las Vegas reporter

LAS VEGAS — A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve a minimum of 28 years in Nevada state jail for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles essential of his conduct in workplace two years in the past and uncovered an intimate relationship with a feminine coworker.

A choose invoked sentencing enhancements to be used of a lethal weapon and the age of the reporter so as to add eight years to the minimal 20-years-to-life sentence {that a} jury set in August after discovering Robert Telles responsible of first-degree homicide.

“The choose could not sentence him to any extra time,” Clark County District Lawyer Steve Wolfson mentioned after telling reporters the sentence represented justice for the group. “She gave him the utmost.”

Telles, 47, testified in his protection at trial, denying he stabbed Las Vegas Overview-Journal reporter Jeff German to loss of life in September 2022. However proof in opposition to him was robust — together with his DNA beneath German’s fingernails.

Telles was the administrator of a county workplace that handles unclaimed property and probate instances when he was arrested and jailed with out bail a number of days after German’s homicide. He was stripped of his elected place weeks later.

Standing in shackles earlier than the choose on Wednesday, Telles provided “deepest condolences” to German’s household however once more denied accountability for the reporter’s loss of life.

“I perceive the will to hunt justice and maintain anyone accountable for this,” he mentioned. “However I didn’t kill Mr. German.”

Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly informed the choose that proof confirmed Telles killed German as a result of “he did not like what Mr. German had written about him. He felt that Mr. German had price him an elected place.”

“This sort of violence, this type of political violence,” the prosecutor mentioned, “is unacceptable and harmful for a group as a complete.”

Telles’ protection lawyer, Robert Draskovich, requested for leniency for Telles and informed the choose that Telles intends to enchantment his conviction. After sentence was pronounced, Draskovich withdrew as Telles’ protection lawyer.

“The sentence was not shocking,” Draskovich mentioned outdoors court docket. “We fulfilled our protection obligation. We parted on good phrases. (Telles) preserved all his rights for enchantment.”

German was 69. He was a revered reporter who spent 44 years protecting crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.

Telles misplaced his main for a second time period in workplace after German’s tales in Could and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying on the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian workplace and a romantic relationship between Telles and a feminine worker. His legislation license was suspended following his arrest.

Police sought public assist to establish an individual captured on neighborhood safety video driving a maroon SUV and strolling whereas sporting a broad straw hat that hid his face and an outsized orange long-sleeve shirt. Weckerly confirmed the jury footage of the individual sporting orange slipping into the aspect yard the place German was stabbed, slashed and left useless.

At Telles’ home, police discovered a maroon SUV and cut-up items of a straw hat and a grey athletic shoe that appeared like these worn by the individual seen on video. Authorities didn’t discover the orange shirt or a homicide weapon.

Telles claimed he was “framed” for the homicide

Telles testified for a number of rambling hours at his trial, admitting for the primary time that stories of the workplace romance have been true. He mentioned he was “framed” for the crime by a broad conspiracy involving an actual property firm, police, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others. He informed the jury he was victimized for crusading to root out corruption.

Wolfson and prosecutors at trial dismissed these claims as unbelievable.

“The jury squarely and soundly rejected all of that,” Weckerly mentioned at sentencing. She known as Telles’ accounts ”hole claims.”

Different proof in opposition to Telles was robust. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner informed the jury that Telles blamed German for destroying his profession, ruining his popularity and threatening his marriage.

Telles informed the jury he took a stroll and went to a health club on the time German was killed. However proof confirmed Telles’ spouse despatched textual content messages to him about the identical time asking, “The place are you?” Prosecutors mentioned Telles left his cellphone at house so he couldn’t be tracked.

The jury deliberated almost 12 hours over three days earlier than discovering Telles responsible. The panel heard pained sentencing listening to testimony from German’s brother and two sisters, together with emotional pleas for leniency from Telles’ spouse, ex-wife and mom, earlier than deciding that Telles may very well be eligible for parole.

Clark County District Courtroom Decide Michelle Leavitt was in a position to think about sentencing enhancements including as much as eight years to Telles’ sentence for utilizing a lethal weapon in a willful, deliberate, premeditated killing as a result of German was older than 60 years previous. With two years already spent in custody, Telles shall be eligible to hunt parole when he’s about 73 years previous.

“This defendant has proven completely no regret, no acceptance of accountability,” mentioned Wolfson, the Democratic elected regional prosecutor. “And in reality, his habits is such that I imagine he’s an excessive hazard to the group if he’s ever launched.”

German was the one journalist killed within the U.S. in 2022, in response to the New York-based Committee to Defend Journalists. The nonprofit has information of 17 media employees killed within the U.S. since 1992.

“The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a major milestone within the quest for justice,” Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator on the committee, mentioned Wednesday in an announcement to The Related Press. “Though the jailing of Telles can’t undo Jeff German’s homicide, it will possibly act as an necessary deterrent to would-be assailants of journalists.”