A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced on Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative journalist.

According to CBS News, Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German wrote articles about Robert Telles that criticized his conduct in office and exposed an intimate relationship with a female co-worker.

The 47-year-old former politician testified in his defense at trial and denied he stabbed German to death in September 2022.

“Evidence against him was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails,” the Associated Press noted.

CBS News reports:

A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Telles guilty of murder.

“The judge couldn’t sentence him to any more time,” Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after telling reporters the sentence represented justice for the community. “She gave him the maximum.”

During the sentencing, Telles addressed German’s family and offered his condolences but still maintained he was innocent, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV reported.

“I understand the desire to seek justice and hold somebody accountable for this,” he said. “But I did not kill Mr. German.”

From the Associated Press:

Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the judge that evidence showed Telles killed German because “he didn’t like what Mr. German had written about him. He felt that Mr. German had cost him an elected position.”

“This type of violence, this sort of political violence,” the prosecutor said, “is unacceptable and dangerous for a community as a whole.”

Defense attorney Robert Draskovich asked for leniency and told the judge that Telles intends to appeal his conviction. After sentence was pronounced, Draskovich withdrew as Telles’ defense lawyer.

German, 69, was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.

“Twenty-eight years. I don’t know that you can quantify Jeff’s life that way,” said Rita Reid, the current holder of Telles’ former job. Reid was among colleagues who asked German to investigate Telles’ management in 2022, and she sat through all his court hearings, trial and sentencing. “Is that a fair trade? The whole community lost out,” she said.

 

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