Former public administrator Robert Telles was sentenced to life in jail after being convicted of the 2022 homicide of Jeff German.
A Las Vegas politician has been sentenced to life in jail for killing an investigative journalist who wrote essential articles detailing misconduct on the division he led.
On September 2, 2022, former Democratic public administrator Robert Telles waited exterior the suburban dwelling of 69-year-old journalist Jeff German earlier than stabbing him to loss of life.
“Justice has been served,” Clark County Prosecutor Steve Wolfson advised reporters.
“As we speak’s sentencing ought to ship a message, a transparent message, that any try and silence the media, silence or intimidate journalists won’t be tolerated.”
Telles, 47, lowered his head as a clerk learn the first-degree homicide verdict, which carries a attainable life sentence with out the opportunity of parole. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimal time period of 20 years.
Within the public gallery, German’s members of the family wept and hugged one another. Clark County Public Administration Workplace staff, a few of whom requested Germain to analyze Taylor, hugged and wiped away tears, all sporting purple shirts with badges emblazoned with the reporter’s face.
Glenn Prepare dinner, government editor of German newspaper Las Vegas Zeitung, mentioned: “Jeff was killed for doing a job he was pleased with: his reporting that held elected officers accountable for unhealthy conduct and gave voters a selection Others maintain the authority for the job.
“In lots of nations, the murderers of journalists go unpunished,” Prepare dinner added. “Not so in Las Vegas.”
DNA proof ‘insurmountable’
The 2-week trial heard how a veteran Las Vegas Evaluate-Journal reporter spent months investigating allegations that Telles oversaw office abuse and had an inappropriate relationship with an worker.
This text was printed in June 2022, one month earlier than the election during which Telles is working for re-election. He denied the accusations however misplaced re-election within the main.
The jury of seven girls and 5 males heard how a livid Telles drove to German’s dwelling the place he hid in some bushes earlier than launching a frenzied and deadly knife assault.
Tellus’ DNA was discovered below Germain’s fingernails, and video of the attacker’s automotive matched a car registered to Tellus’ spouse.
He denies committing the homicide, arguing police ignored proof that others is perhaps accountable and that he was framed.
Las Vegas protection lawyer Robert Langford, who was not concerned within the case, mentioned the DNA proof below Germaine’s fingernails was “insurmountable proof.”
The Committee to Defend Journalists (CPJ) says that since 1992, 15 media employees have been killed on the job in the USA.
Germany was the one journalist killed in the USA amongst 69 media employees and journalists killed worldwide in 2022, in keeping with the information group.
“This conviction sends an essential message that the killing of journalists won’t be tolerated,” mentioned Katherine Jacobsen, CPJ’s regional coordinator for the USA, Canada and the Caribbean.
