The skyline of Las Vegas, Nevada, including hotels and casinos on Las Vegas Boulevard, known as the Las Vegas Strip, is seen from an airplane, February 5, 2024. Agence France-Presse
LOS ANGELES — A Las Vegas politician was jailed for life Wednesday for killing an investigative journalist who wrote critical articles detailing wrongdoing in the department he headed.
Robert Telles lay in wait outside the home of longtime reporter Jeff German, and then stabbed him to death, a jury in Clark County, Nevada concluded.
“Justice has been served,” Clark County prosecutor Steve Wolfson told reporters.
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“Today’s verdict should send a message, and that message is a clear message that any attempts to silence the media or to silence or intimidate a journalist will not be tolerated.”
The two-week trial had heard how German, a 69-year-old reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had written an article months before his death describing a toxic environment in the county office that Telles led.
The piece, published a month before an election in which Telles was standing to retain his role, detailed complaints of favoritism and allegations that Telles had been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a member of staff.
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Telles denied the allegations but lost his reelection bid.
The jury of seven women and five men heard how an irate Telles had driven to German’s home in September of 2022 and hidden in some bushes, from where he launched a frenzied and fatal knife attack.
Telles had denied carrying out the killing, arguing that the police had ignored evidence that other people could have been responsible.
In a lengthy monologue from the witness stand, Telles — a lawyer by training — claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy.
After returning their guilty verdict, the jury retired again to consider the sentence, imposing a life term with a minimum of 20 years before Telles is eligible for parole.
Glenn Cook, executive editor of The Las Vegas Review-Journal, said Wednesday the jury had rendered “a measure of justice for Jeff German.”
“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.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists says 15 media workers have been killed in the United States in connection with their work since 1992.