The skyline of Las Vegas, Nevada, including the hotels and casinos along 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 sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for killing an investigative journalist who had written critical articles about abuses in the department he headed.
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.
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“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.
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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.”
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According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 15 media workers have been killed in the United States since 1992 in connection with their work.
