Judge Extends Sentence for Former County Official Convicted in Las Vegas Journalist’s Murder

Robert Telles was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years for the murder of Jeff German. On Wednesday, a judge added eight years to that minimum.

A district judge extended the sentence for a former county official convicted of murdering a longtime Las Vegas journalist, ruling on Wednesday that he will have to spend at least 28 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

The journalist, Jeff German, had taken on mob bosses and casino titans during his four decades as a reporter. But it was a series of articles focused on an obscure county office and its leader, Robert Telles, that ultimately served as the motive for his murder in September 2022, prosecutors argued at trial.

A Clark County jury convicted Mr. Telles of first-degree murder in August, and he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. On Wednesday, Judge Michelle Leavitt, who has discretion under Nevada law to consider enhancements, added eight years to that minimum sentence because the murder involved a deadly weapon and a victim who was 60 years or older.

A lawyer for Mr. Telles said that he planned to appeal. Mr. Telles has already been behind bars for about two years.

Mr. German’s killing had raised concerns about press freedom, in particular the safety of reporters covering their own communities.

It also devastated his close-knit family, his brother, Jay German, told Judge Leavitt on Wednesday.

“We’ve had a couple of his birthdays since he’s passed,” Jay German said. “It’s nice to get together as a family and kind of visit with Jeff, but it’s not the same, and it never will be.”

In May 2022, Mr. German wrote an article for The Las Vegas Review-Journal describing employees’ complaints that Mr. Telles, who ran a county office that handles the estates of people who die without apparent heirs, had created a toxic work environment and had an improper relationship with a staff member.

Mr. Telles denied the allegations, and lost his re-election bid a month after the article was published. Months later, as he continued reporting on Mr. Telles, Mr. German was stabbed to death outside his home.

Mr. Telles took the stand in his own defense at his trial, arguing that he had been framed as part of a tangled conspiracy involving a corrupt local real estate company that wanted to stop him from investigating it.

He alluded to that theory during sentencing on Wednesday, insisting again that he did not kill Mr. German.

“The family has my deepest condolences,” he said. “Mr. German was very impactful in the community. He made a difference.”

During the trial, prosecutors said that DNA found on Mr. German’s hands matched that of Mr. Telles. Security footage showed the assailant wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, sneakers and a gray bag. The police found matching items inside of Mr. Telles’s home.

The assailant also drove a car that looked like one owned by Mr. Telles, and police officers recovered security footage of the car traveling between the two men’s neighborhoods on the day of the murder.

Mr. Telles’s lawyer argued at trial that the police had failed to consider evidence that could have pointed to other suspects.

Mr. German, who was 69 when he died, loved investigating corruption in Las Vegas and had no plans to retire, friends and co-workers said.

His brother said his family was still grappling with the death.

“He was our leader,” Jay German said. “We’re never going to see him again, and it’s hard to come to that realization.”