UPDATE: Former Las Vegas Official Sentenced for Murdering Journalist Who Investigated Him

Posted on: August 28, 2024, 07:01h. 

Last updated on: August 29, 2024, 10:23h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Myths.

UPDATE: Former Las Vegas elected official Robert Telles was sentenced on Wednesday evening to life in a Nevada Department of Corrections facility with eligibility for parole after 20 years.

EARLIER: Robert Telles, the former Clark County Public Administrator, was found guilty Wednesday of murdering investigative reporter Jeff German. Telles, 47, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon against a victim 60 or older in German’s 2022 stabbing death. German was a veteran Las Vegas journalist who wrote articles critical of Telles’ professional conduct.

Former elected Las Vegas official Robert Telles hangs his head while listening to jurors announce his fate on Wednesday. (Image: CourtTV)

A jury of seven women and five men deliberated for 12 hours before delivering the verdict at noon. This followed eight days of damning testimony from the prosecution, and an almost never-seen defense tactic undertaken by Telles.

Ignoring the advice of his counsel, Telles — a former attorney, though not a criminal one — took the stand in his own defense for three days. Even more unusually, instead of having his attorneys question him, Telles testified by narrative — something that can happen if defense attorneys believe the testimony their client is presenting is false.

Telles claimed he was framed. He claimed that a Las Vegas company called Compass Reality, whom Telles said he battled in the course of his job duties to expose corruption, arranged for German’s murder just to get Telles to stop investigating the company even though German was murdered after Telles was voted out of office.

Other than skin with Telles’ DNA found underneath German’s fingernails, the most damning evidence was a photo of a text sent to Telles from his wife from her Apple Watch.

It read, “Where are you?” It was sent at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022.

This is almost the exact time that security footage presented earlier in the trial showed a maroon SUV resembling Telles’ being driven near German’s house by a man, wearing an orange outfit and a straw hat, whom even Telles referred to several times as German’s killer.

Telles conceded that as the owner of the phone, he could have deleted the text, though he didn’t admit to doing so.

German’s Newspaper Speaks

Glenn Cook, executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, for which German worked at the time of his murder, released the following statement after the verdict was read …

Today a Clark County jury delivered a measure of justice for Jeff German, and we hope it brings some solace to his family, friends, and colleagues. Jeff was killed for doing the kind of work in which he took great pride: His reporting held an elected official accountable for bad behavior and empowered voters to choose someone else for the job.

“Robert Telles could have joined the long line of publicly shamed Nevada politicians who’ve gone on with their lives, out of the spotlight or back in it. Instead, he carried out a premeditated revenge killing with terrifying savagery.

“Today also brought a measure of justice for slain journalists all over the world. Our jobs are increasingly risky and sometimes dangerous. In many countries, the killers of journalists go unpunished. Not so in Las Vegas. Our thanks to police and prosecutors, whose diligent work won this conviction.

“Let’s also remember that this community has lost much more than a trusted journalist. Jeff was a good man who left behind a family who loved him and friends who cherished him. His murder remains an outrage. He is missed.”