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A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative reporter who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female colleague.
A judge increased the sentence by an additional eight years for the defendant's use of a deadly weapon and because of the age of the slain journalist. A jury in August found defendant Robert Telles guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to a minimum of 20 years in prison.
"The court could not sentence him to more years," said Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson, as he told the media that the sentence represented justice for the community. "She punished him to the maximum."
Telles, 47, denied at trial that he stabbed Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But the evidence against him was strong, including the defendant's DNA under the reporter's fingernails.
Defendant Telles, a former administrator of a county property affairs office, was arrested and jailed without parole days after German's murder. He was fired from the elected post weeks later.
Handcuffed before a judge on Wednesday, defendant Telles expressed his "deepest condolences" to journalist German's family, but again denied responsibility for his death.
Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the judge that evidence showed defendant Telles killed the reporter because he “didn't like what she wrote about him.
"This kind of violence, political violence", said the prosecutor, "is unacceptable and dangerous for a community as a whole".
Defense attorney Robert Draskovich asked for leniency in his client's sentence and told the judge that Mr. Telles intends to appeal the sentence. After the sentencing, Mr. Draskovich resigned as defendant Telles' defense attorney.
Mr. German was 69 years old. He was a respected journalist with 44 years of experience covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.
Jeff German was the only journalist killed in the US in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. According to the non-profit organization, 17 media workers have been hanged in the United States since 1992.
Mr. German was found stabbed to death outside his Las Vegas home on Sept. 3, 2022. During the trial, prosecutors explained how Telles was angered by German's articles about him alleging the District Administrator misbehaved with staff. his and had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. / VOA
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