Former Vegas politician Robert Telles found guilty in stabbing death of reporter

Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A Las Vegas jury Wednesday convicted former Vegas politician Robert Telles in the 2022 stabbing murder of veteran Las Vegas investigative reporter Jeff German.

The guilty verdict was read during a video livestream after about 12 hours of jury deliberations. The jury unanimously found the murder was willful, deliberate and pre-meditated.

When the verdict was read, Telles was standing, his hands clasped in front of him and his head bowed.

The judge released the jury and said a penalty phase of the trial would start later Wednesday afternoon.

The seven women, five men jury deliberated for four hours Monday, about six hours Tuesday, and two hours Wednesday, before reaching their verdict.

Telles is a former Clark County Public Administrator charged with stabbing German to death because Telles was angry about articles written by the reporter. Telles lost a primary election after the articles came out.

Prosecutors presented some two dozen witnesses, using video and physical evidence, including DNA from under German's fingernails, to prove Telles killed the reporter.

Telles took the stand in his own defense and testified he believed the DNA evidence was planted.

He said in court that he wasn't happy about the articles German had written, but testified, "I don't know that I ever hated him."

Telles claimed he was framed for the murder by colleagues, real estate agents and business owners over his alleged efforts to uproot corruption while serving as public administrator.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter was discovered stabbed to death outside his Las Vegas home Sept. 3, 2022.

He had published articles detailing bullying and favoritism allegations by the office Telles ran.

Among the evidence the jury considered was a security video showing someone wearing bright orange clothing and a straw hat enter German's yard and "lying in wait" for the reporter.

German was attacked when he opened his garage and entered the yard. A different video depicted the person dressed in orange get into a maroon SUV similar to one owned by the Telles family.

The Review-Journal editor Glenn Cook said at the time of the arrest, "The arrest of Robert Telles is at once an enormous relief and an outrage for the Review-Journal newsroom, We are relieved Telles is in custody and outraged that a colleague appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official."