Former official may get life for Las Vegas reporter murder

By Andrew Hay

(Reuters) -A Las Vegas, Nevada jury on Wednesday found a former elected county official guilty of killing an investigative reporter who wrote articles critical of him, a case that highlighted the increased risks to journalists in the United States.

Robert Telles, former Clark County public administrator, was convicted of murder with a deadly weapon after the jury of seven women and five men deliberated for nearly 12 hours.

County prosecutors accused the former Democratic official of lying in wait for reporter Jeff German, 69, before stabbing him to death outside his suburban Las Vegas home on Sept. 2, 2022.

“A journalist wrote a story, or a series of stories, and lost their life over it because someone, a politician, an outgoing politician, just did not like them,” said county prosecutor Christopher Hamner.

Telles bowed his head as a court clerk read the verdict of first degree murder, which carries a possible life sentence with no parole. The jury is now deliberating how long he will be behind bars.

Telles’ lawyer Robert Draskovich asked the jury to show leniency on his client, who has no previous criminal record, and sentence him to parole after 20 years behind bars.

In the public gallery, German’s family members wept and hugged one another. Employees from the Clark County public administrator's office, some of whom asked German to investigate Telles, embraced and wiped away tears, all wearing red shirts and pins showing the reporter’s face.

"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," Glenn Cook, executive editor of German's newspaper the Las Vegas Review Journal, said in a statement.

"In many countries the killers of journalists go unpunished," Cook added. "Not so in Las Vegas."

German spent months reporting on complaints Telles oversaw an abusive workplace and had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate.

The state's evidence against Telles included Telles' DNA found underneath German's fingernails and video of the attacker's car that matched a vehicle registered to Telles' wife.

The former official told the court he was framed for German's murder after trying to expose an alleged kickback scheme.

Las Vegas defense attorney Robert Langford, who was not involved in the case, said the DNA evidence under German's fingernails was "an insurmountable bit of evidence."

Soon after one of German's stories on Telles, 47, was published in June 2022, the former official lost his re-election bid in a Democratic primary to a rival from within the public administrator's office.

The day before German's murder, Telles learned the reporter had gained information through a records request on his communication with the office colleague he had an affair with.

"The conviction sends an important message that the killing of journalists will not be tolerated," said Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada and Caribbean coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press rights group.

German was known for decades of reporting on corruption and organized crime in Nevada's largest city. His book "Murder in Sin City" inspired the 2008 movie "Sex and Lies in Sin City" on the killing of gambling executive Ted Binion.

He was the only journalist murdered in the U.S. in 2022 among 69 media workers and journalists killed worldwide, according to CPJ data.

The U.S. dropped 10 places to 55th place in a 2024 ranking on journalist safety, according to the World Press Freedom Index published by advocacy group Reporters Without Borders.

The study cited shrinking public trust in the media and antagonism from political officials as factors in the decline.

(Reporting By Andrew Hay; Editing by David Gregorio and Diane Craft)