Former Las Vegas politician Robert Telles sentenced to life in prison for murder of journalist Jeff German

A former Las Vegas politician has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an investigative journalist who had published critical articles exposing abuses in his ministry.

Robert Telles lurked outside the home of longtime reporter Jeff German and then stabbed him to death, a jury in Clark County, Nevada, ruled.

“Justice has been done,” Clark County Attorney Steve Wolfson told reporters Wednesday.

“Today's verdict should send a message, and that message is a clear message, that any attempt to silence the media or to silence or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated.”

During the two-week trial, it was revealed that German, a 69-year-old reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had written an article months before his death describing a toxic work environment in the district office run by Telles.

The article, which appeared a month before an election in which Telles was running for his post, contained detailed complaints about nepotism and allegations that Telles had had an inappropriate relationship with a female staffer.

Telles denied the allegations but lost his re-election.

The jury of seven women and five men heard how an enraged Telles drove to German's home in September 2022, hid in bushes and from there launched a frenzied and fatal knife attack.

Telles denied committing the murder and argued that police ignored evidence suggesting that others might be responsible.

In a long monologue on the witness stand, Telles – a trained lawyer – claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy.

After returning the guilty verdict, the jury retired again to deliberate on the sentence. They imposed a sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years before Telles can be released on parole.

Glenn Cook, editor in chief of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said Wednesday that the jury “did some justice for Jeff German.”

“Jeff was killed because he was doing the kind of job he took great pride in: his reporting held an elected official accountable for bad behavior and empowered voters to elect someone else to the job.”

German was known for decades as a reporter on corruption and organized crime in Nevada's largest city. His book Murder in the City of Sin inspired the 2008 film Sex and lies in Sin City for the killing of gambling executive Ted Binion.

According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, German was the only journalist killed in the United States in 2022. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the United States since 1992.

Additional reporting from Reuters and Associated Press