By Ken Ritter | Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — A Democratic former Las Vegas-area politician is guilty of murder and has been sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility at 20 years for the killing of an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in elected office, a jury in Nevada ruled Wednesday.
Robert Telles hung his head, shaking it slightly from side to side as the guilty verdict was read. Jurors deliberated for nearly 12 hours over three days after hearing eight days of evidence in his trial, which began Aug 12.
Telles, 47, has been jailed without bail since his arrest several days after Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German was found stabbed to death in a side yard of his home over Labor Day weekend 2022.
During a break from the proceedings, defense attorney Robert Draskovich declined to characterize his client’s emotional reaction to the verdict. He said Telles intends to appeal.
Jurors then heard testimony from German’s and Telles’ family members and began deliberating whether Telles will be sentenced to life in prison without parole, life with parole eligibility at 20 years, or 20 to 50 years in prison.
A sentencing enhancement that Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt can add on a date yet to be set could have Telles serve a minimum of 21 to 53 years.
Draskovich asked the 12-member jury for “an element of mercy … an element of hope.”
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said outside the courtroom that he was surprised by the length of time the jury deliberated before the verdict but was confident jurors carefully considered evidence.
“The jury … hit a home run by getting the right verdict,” Wolfson said.
Wolfson, an elected Democrat, said German “had a stellar reputation in this community” and called it “a crying shame, literally and figuratively that he’s no longer with us.”
Wolfson also dismissed as “ludicrous” Telles’ claims that a broad conspiracy of people — including Wolfson — framed him for blame for German’s killing in retaliation for his effort to root out corruption he saw in his office.
“I am not the kind of person who would stab someone. I didn’t kill Mr. German,” Telles had told the jury last week from the witness stand. “And that’s my testimony.”
Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother were called as penalty phase character witnesses.
Tears welled in Telles’ eyes as his wife, Mary Ann “Mae” Ismael, described him as a “great” provider during their 14 years of marriage for their “blended” family of her son, his daughter and their daughter.
“I would love to have the chance for the kids to have their father back” after prison, Ismael said.
Telles’ ex-wife, Tonia Burton, noted the oldest child, a daughter she and Telles had together, is 16.
His mother, Rosalinda Anaya, said, “I accept the verdict” and told the jury, “I ask if you could please give my son a chance at parole.”
In their first public comments since the killing, German’s brother, Jay German, and two sisters, Jill Zwerg and Julie Smith, described him as a loving brother and uncle to their children.
“He was the older brother that we all leaned on,” Jay German said. He called the murder “devastating.”
Zwerg said her oldest brother — a dedicated reporter and author who moved to Las Vegas from Milwaukee and loved his job — used to tell her why he rejected offers by other newspapers to move to other cities.
“‘This is Las Vegas, Sin City,'” she said he told her. “‘This is where I need to be.'”
German, 69, spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told jurors during closing arguments Monday that finding Telles guilty would be like “connecting the dots” based on overwhelming evidence they heard — including DNA that matched Telles found beneath German’s fingernails.
Hamner maintained that German fought to the death with his attacker and that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.
Telles, an attorney who practiced civil law before he was elected in 2018, lost his primary for a second elected term after German’s stories appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May and June 2022. They described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and an employee.
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly presented a timeline and videos showing Telles’ maroon SUV leaving the neighborhood near his home a little after 9 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2022, and driving on streets near German’s home a short time later.
The SUV driver is seen wearing a bright orange outfit similar to one worn by a person captured on camera walking to German’s home and slipping into a side yard where German was attacked just after 11:15 a.m.
A little more than 2 minutes later, the figure in orange emerged and walked down a sidewalk. German did not reappear.
Evidence showed Telles’ wife sent him a text message about 10:30 a.m. asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked. Telles told the jury he took a walk and then went to a gym in the afternoon.
Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, issued a statement within minutes of the verdict being read. It mourned German’s death and said the verdict “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 and perpetrators held accountable,” Jacobsen said.
German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based committee. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.
Associated Press videographer Ty ONeil contributed to this report.
