A former elected official from Las Vegas, USA, was sentenced on Wednesday, August 28, to life in prison for the murder in 2022 of an investigative journalist who was investigating actions within the office headed by this Democratic political leader.
At the trial, jurors heard how Robert Telles hid in September 2022 outside the home of Jeff German, a veteran reporter, and then stabbed him to death. The jury, which deliberated for nearly twelve hours over three days, after hearing testimony for eight days, unanimously found that murder was committed. “intentional” AND “premeditated”.
“Justice has been done”Clark County, Nevada, District Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters. “Today’s verdict should send a message, and that message is clear: any attempt to muzzle the media or to muzzle or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated.”he added.
Jeff German, a 69-year-old journalist from Las Vegas Magazinehad written an article in May 2022 about the county office run by Robert Telles, who was then seeking re-election. The article, published a month before the election, detailed allegations of favoritism and the existence of an inappropriate relationship between the elected official and an employee. Robert Telles denied the facts recounted in the article, but lost the election.
DNA under the nails
According to the events described during the hearings, in September of the same year he went furiously to Jeff German’s house, hid in the bushes and attacked the journalist, stabbing him to death.
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly presented a timeline and videos showing the defendant’s vehicle leaving the neighborhood near his home shortly after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving near the reporter’s vehicle shortly afterward. The driver was seen wearing a bright orange suit similar to the one worn by someone filmed walking toward Jeff German’s home, then slipping into a side yard where the victim was attacked around 11:15 a.m. Just over two minutes later, the orange-clad figure reappeared walking down a sidewalk.
Evidence showed that Robert Telles’ wife texted him around 10:30 a.m. asking where he was. Prosecutors said the suspect left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be located.
DNA matching the defendant’s was found under the victim’s fingernails. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner argued that Jeff German fought his attacker to the death and that Robert Telles accused the journalist of destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Twenty-year security sentence
The former elected official denied being the perpetrator of the murder, telling jurors he had gone for a walk and then went to a gym in the afternoon. He claimed police had ignored certain leads that could incriminate others. In a lengthy monologue on the stand, the trained lawyer declared he was the victim of a conspiracy, in retaliation for his efforts to root out corruption he had seen in his office. Claims “ridiculous”estimated prosecutor Wolfson.
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Following the guilty verdict, the jury retired once more to deliberate on Robert Telles’ sentence and ultimately sentenced him to life imprisonment with a security term of twenty years.
“Jeff was killed for doing the kind of job he took great pride in: his job holding an elected official accountable for his bad behavior and allowing voters to elect someone else to do that job.”stated the CEO of Las Vegas MagazineGlen Cook. Jeff German spent more than forty years covering justice in Las Vegas, nicknamed “Sin City.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded fourteen journalists and one media employee killed in the United States in connection with their work since 1992.
