前内华达州政客在2022年9月被判杀害记者杰夫·格尔曼有罪后，被判终身监禁。
当陪审团主席宣读有罪判决时，前克拉克县公共行政官罗伯特·特列斯低头摇头。
Telles被判终身监禁，服刑至少20年后有资格获得假释。
在宣布判决后的新闻发布会上，克拉克县地方检察官史蒂文·沃尔森感谢陪审团在本案中所做的工作。
“今天的判决应该发出一个信息，这个信息是一个明确的信息，任何试图压制媒体，或压制或恐吓记者的行为都不会被容忍，”沃尔夫森说。
检察官说，47岁的前克拉克县公共行政官罗伯特·特列斯在德国人揭露了他办公室的腐败后，将《拉斯维加斯评论日报》的记者刺死，毁了他的政治生涯和婚姻。German的报道详细描述了Telles办公室里据称充满敌意的工作环境，包括欺凌、报复以及Telles和一名员工之间的“不正当关系”,所有这些Telles都予以否认。
在German被发现死在他拉斯维加斯的家门口几天后，Telles被逮捕了。警方表示，在Telles家中发现的DNA证据将他与犯罪现场联系在一起，在他的家中发现了一顶草帽和一双运动鞋，监控录像中看到了嫌疑人穿着这些东西。警方说，在德国人的手和指甲上也发现了他的DNA。
他否认犯有谋杀罪。
在她的开场陈述中，首席副地方检察官Pamela Weckerly讲述了谋杀的时间线以及Telles是如何成为嫌疑人的。
“最终，这个案子与政治无关，”韦克礼说。“这不是所谓的不正当关系。这与谁是好老板、谁是好主管或工作中的徇私无关——这只是谋杀。”
8月21日，Telles在自己的审判中出庭，“明确地”坚持自己的清白，并坚持说他是在一个房地产公司的大阴谋中被“陷害”的，他说他正在调查涉嫌贿赂。
“有人陷害我，我相信这是指南针房地产，我相信这是我对他们所做的工作，”Telles告诉法庭。
在一份声明中拉斯维加斯评论杂志今年1月，Compass Realty的所有者Takumba Britt否认了Telles的阴谋指控，称他是一个“绝望的人，被指控暴力谋杀了一名受爱戴的当地记者”，他会“做任何事，说任何话，以逃避对这项指控的回答。”
在陪审团宣布裁决后，沃尔森还回击了特列斯的共谋指控。
“没有阴谋，”沃尔夫森说。"唯一的阴谋是在他和他邪恶的头脑之间."
当警方拘留Telles时，他有他们所说的无生命危险的自残刺伤。他的辩护律师罗伯特·德拉斯科维奇说，自杀企图不是出于内疚，而是因为特列斯的“生活正在分崩离析”
Draskovich回应了Telles对他的阴谋的指控，在他的开场陈述中说，公共行政办公室的“保守派”对Telles根除内部腐败的努力感到不安。他还声称，由于German调查腐败人物的记录，可能还有其他人想要他的命。
“还有其他人有更大的动机让它看起来像(特列斯)是凶手，并进行这场杀戮，因为杰夫·格尔曼是一名优秀的记者——他最终会找到真相，”德拉斯科维奇说。
周三宣判前，German的三个兄弟姐妹向法庭陈述了他们的长兄对他们的意义。
“杰夫是我们的领袖——他是我们都依赖的哥哥，”他的哥哥杰伊·格尔曼说。
在兄弟姐妹的记忆中，他是一个“出色”的叔叔，一个“无畏”的记者，一个足球和情景喜剧的爱好者。
他的妹妹吉尔·兹沃格(Jill Zwerg)说德语“就像第二个父亲”，她回忆说，当她告诉我她已经订婚时，他为酒吧买了一整杯香槟。
“他每天都被深深地思念着，”兹沃格流着泪说。
特列斯的妻子和前妻也发言，含泪请求陪审团不要判他终身监禁，不得假释。
他的妻子玛丽·安·伊斯梅尔说:“我希望有一天，我的孩子们能有机会回到他们的父亲身边。”。
特列斯的母亲罗莎琳达·安纳亚站在证人席上哭泣。
“我接受判决，但如果你能-请-给我儿子假释的机会，”安纳亚说。“他的家庭还很年轻，我希望有一天他能再次回到他们身边。”
在送陪审团去考虑量刑之前，德拉斯科维奇敦促陪审员不要判无期徒刑。
“给他机会——给他的孩子机会——几十年后，让他们的父亲回来，”德拉斯科维奇说。
但检察官认为，在这种情况下，无论有无假释，无期徒刑都是必要的。克拉克县首席副地方检察官克里斯·哈姆纳说，特列斯“决定成为德国人的法官、陪审团和真正的刽子手”，“因为他只是对关于他的报道感到不高兴。”
“当你想到他当时的处境时，世界不会毁灭。他只是输掉了一场选举，”哈姆纳说。“罗伯特·特列斯选择的处理方式是毁灭性的，这是他的选择，也是他一个人的选择。”
保护记者委员会(Committee to Protect Journalists)的数据显示，德国人是2022年在美国遇害的唯一一名记者，当年全球共有至少67名记者遇害。
拉斯维加斯治安官约瑟夫·伦巴多此前形容针对特列斯的案件“不寻常”，并表示“杀害一名记者特别麻烦。”
“因为是记者所以麻烦。我们希望新闻业公开透明，成为政府的监督者，”伦巴多说。“当人们认为自己制造了与该职业相关的伤害时，我认为非常重要的是，我们要把所有的注意力放在这个案件上，并像我们在这个案件中所做的那样适当地处理这个案件。”
在一个报纸发表的声明拉斯维加斯评论杂志执行编辑格伦·库克称赞这一判决对德国人以及“全世界被杀害的记者”来说是“正义的措施”
库克写道:“杰夫是因为做了他引以为豪的工作而被杀害的:他的报道让一名当选官员为不良行为负责，并让选民有权选择其他人担任这一职务。”“罗伯特·特列斯本可以加入公开羞辱内华达政客的行列，不管是在聚光灯下还是回到聚光灯下，他们都继续自己的生活。相反，他以可怕的野蛮方式实施了一场有预谋的报复性杀戮。”
“让我们也记住，这个社区失去的不仅仅是一位值得信赖的记者，”库克补充道。“杰夫是个好人，他留下了爱他的家人和珍惜他的朋友。他的谋杀仍然是一种暴行。我们想念他。”
Nevada politician Robert Telles found guilty of killing journalist Jeff German, sentenced to life in prison
A former Nevadapoliticianwas sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on Wednesday of killing journalist Jeff German in September 2022.
As the jury's foreperson read out the guilty verdict, former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles looked down and shook his head.
Telles was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after a minimum of 20 years served.
In a press conference after the verdict was announced, Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson thanked the jury for their work on the case.
"Today's verdict should send a message, and that message is a clear message that any attempts to silence the media, or to silence or intimidate a journalist, will not be tolerated," Wolfson said.
Prosecutors said former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles, 47, stabbed the Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter to death after German exposed corruption in his office, destroying both his political career and his marriage. German's story detailed an allegedly hostile work environment in Telles' office -- including bullying, retaliation and an "inappropriate relationship" between Telles and a staffer -- all of which Telles denied.
Telles was arrested days after German was found dead outside his Las Vegas home. Police said DNA evidence found in Telles' home tied him to the crime scene, and a straw hat and sneakers -- which the suspect was seen wearing in surveillance footage -- were found cut up in his home. His DNA was also found on German's hands and fingernails, police said.
He had pleaded not guilty to murder.
In her opening statement, Chief Deputy District Attorney Pamela Weckerly walked through the timeline of the murder and how Telles came to be pinpointed as the suspect.
"In the end, this case isn't about politics," Weckerly said. "It's not about alleged inappropriate relationships. It's not about who's a good boss or who's a good supervisor or favoritism at work -- it's just about murder."
Telles took the stand in his own trial on Aug. 21, "unequivocally" maintaining his innocence and insisting he was "framed" in a sweeping conspiracy by a real estate company that he said he was investigating for alleged bribery.
"Somebody framed me for this, and I believe that it is Compass Realty, and I believe it's for the work that I've done against them," Telles told the court.
In a statement to theLas Vegas Review-Journalin January, Compass Realty owner Takumba Britt denied Telles' conspiracy claims, calling him a "desperate man who has been charged with violently murdering a beloved local journalist" who would "do and say anything to escape answering for this charge."
Wolfson also hit back against Telles' conspiracy claims after the jury announced its verdict.
"There was no conspiracy," Wolfson said. "The only conspiracy was between him and his evil mind."
When police took Telles into custody, he had what they said were non-life-threatening, self-inflicted stab wounds. His defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, said the suicide attempt was not out of guilt, but because Telles' "life was coming apart."
Draskovich echoed Telles' claims of a conspiracy against him, saying in his opening statement the "old guard" in the public administrator's office had been upset by Telles' efforts to root out internal corruption. He also claimed that, because of German's track record of investigating corrupt figures, there were other people who may have wanted him dead.
"There were others that had far more motive to make it look like [Telles] was the killer, and to conduct this killing because Jeff German was a good reporter -- he would ultimately get to what the truth was," Draskovich said.
Ahead of sentencing on Wednesday, German's three siblings addressed the court, speaking about what their oldest brother meant to them.
"Jeff was our leader -- he was the older brother we all leaned on," his brother, Jay German, said.
The siblings remembered him as a "wonderful" uncle, a "fearless" journalist and a lover of football and sitcoms.
His sister, Jill Zwerg, who said German was "like a second father," recalled how he bought a whole round of champagne for the bar when she told me she'd gotten engaged.
"He's so deeply missed every day," Zwerg said through tears.
Telles' wife and ex-wife also spoke, tearfully asking the jury not to sentence him to life in prison without parole.
"I would love at some point to give my children the chance to have their father back," his wife, Mary Ann Ismael, said.
Telles wept as his mother, Rosalinda Anaya, took the stand.
"I accept the verdict, but if you could -- please -- give my son the chance of parole," Anaya said. "His family is still very young and I would like for him to someday be back with them again."
Before sending the jury off to deliberate on sentencing, Draskovich urged jurors not to hand down a life sentence.
"Give him the opportunity -- give his children the opportunity -- decades from now, to have their father back," Draskovich said.
But prosecutors argued a life sentence -- either with or without parole -- was necessary in such a case. Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Hamner said Telles "decided to be judge, jury, and literally executioner" of German "because he simply wasn't happy about what was being written about him."
"When you think about the situation he was in, the world wasn't going to end. He simply lost an election," Hamner said. "The way Robert Telles chose to handle this was devastating, and it was his choice and his choice alone."
German was the only journalist killed in the United States in 2022, with a total of at least 67 journalists killed worldwide that year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo previously described the case against Telles as "unusual," and said that "the killing of a journalist is particularly troublesome."
"It is troublesome because it is a journalist. And we expect journalism to be open and transparent and the watchdog for government," Lombardo said. "And when people take it upon themselves to create harm associated with that profession, I think it's very important we put all eyes on and address the case appropriately such as we did in this case."
In astatement published by the paper, Las Vegas Review-Journal executive editor Glenn Cook praised the verdict "as a measure of justice" for German, as well as for "slain journalists all over the world."
"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," Cook wrote. "Robert Telles could have joined the long line of publicly shamed Nevada politicians who've gone on with their lives, out of the spotlight or back in it. Instead, he carried out a premeditated revenge killing with terrifying savagery."
"Let's also remember that this community has lost much more than a trusted journalist," Cook added. "Jeff was a good man who left behind a family who loved him and friends who cherished him. His murder remains an outrage. He is missed."
