Politician shakes head as he’s found guilty of killing journalist over unflattering stories
A US politician shook his head and looked downcast as a verdict was read finding him guilty of murdering a journalist who wrote critical stories about him.
Robert Telles, 47, had his eyes glued to the ground as he shook his head slightly but at length as he heard a Clark County jury’s decision in the case that sparked concerns around freedom of the press.
Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, 69, was discovered stabbed to death in September 2022, after writing unflattering stories about Telles.
The stories included a report of an alleged affair that Telles – the county public administrator at the time – had with a staffer.
Telles, a Democrat, lost his bid for re-election a month after German’s stories stating that he harbored a hostile work environment and showed favoritism.
Prosecutors said that Telles hid in bushes at German’s home and waited for him to arrive home, then fatally stabbed him. Telles was arrested five days later.
‘In the end, this case isn’t about politics,’ said Clark County chief deputy district attorney Pamela Weckerly.
‘It’s not about alleged inappropriate relationships. It’s not about who’s a good boss or who’s a good supervisor or favoritism at work. It’s just about murder.’
Telles’ attorney, Robert Draskovich, had stressed that cops did not consider evidence that could suggest there were other suspects in the crime, and that the former administrator had even joked about German’s stories online.
‘These articles were not a motive for a murder,’ said Draskovich. ‘And we all know, killing a journalist does not kill a story.’
Telles denied murdering German and told the court, ‘Unequivocally, I am innocent.’
‘I’m a little nervous,’ he told jurors a week ago. ‘This is a day I’ve been waiting for for nearly two years.’
The jury on Wednesday afternoon found Telles guilty of first-degree murder. He faces life behind bars without parole, life with parole eligibility after 20 years, or 20 to 50 years in prison.
Moments after the verdict, Katherine Jacobsen, who is US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, stated that it ‘sends an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated’.
‘It is vital that the murder of journalists should be taken seriously,’ said Jacobsen, ‘And perpetrators held accountable.’
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