A Journalist Revealed Turmoil At A County Office. Then, He Was Brutally Murdered.

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The peculiar circumstances surrounding the killing of a tenacious Las Vegas investigative reporter culminated in an even more bizarre trial this month for the disgruntled county official who was found guilty on Wednesday of his murder.

Former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles, 47, was accused of fatally stabbing Jeff German, 69, outside his home on Sept. 2, 2022, after the journalist wrote a series of articles for the Las Vegas Review-Journal about alleged misconduct in Telles’ office. After its publication, Telles lost his reelection bid and feared that the release of his emails and text messages with several officials, which German was about to receive via a public records request, would further damage his career and reputation.

The killing sent shockwaves among journalists nationwide, which then-Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo acknowledged at a news conference following Telles’ arrest six days later.

“This is a terrible and jarring homicide, one that has deeply impacted Las Vegas. Every murder is tragic, but the killing of a journalist is particularly troublesome,” said Lombardo, who is now governor of Nevada.

Telles pleaded not guilty and claimed he was framed for the murder. Against the advice of his attorney, he took the stand in his defense last week and spun a tale of a hired killer wearing an improbable disguise and driving a car exactly like his.

He did not offer an explanation for how investigators found his DNA under the fingernails of the victim.

The Motive

On May 16, 2022, German published