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A former Nevada politician was convicted Wednesday of murdering an investigative reporter who wrote critical stories about his time in office.
Robert Telles, 47, was jailed until 2022 for the stabbing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German.
At the trial, prosecutors presented the jury with DNA evidence found under Mr German’s fingernails which they said belonged to Telles – who had pleaded not guilty.
A jury of 12 returned a guilty verdict on Wednesday, however, after deliberating for two days.
Telles, who was elected Clark County public administrator in 2018, took the stand during the trial and proclaimed his own innocence.
He could now face a life sentence after the jury’s verdict.
The 12 jurors deliberated for four hours on Monday and about six hours on Tuesday before the panel reached its conclusion.
The trial dragged on for more than two weeks before closing arguments began on Monday.
In September 2022, Mr. German, 69, was found after being stabbed seven times in the neck and torso outside his home in Nevada.
The veteran reporter had spent more than four decades covering the city and corruption.
He had written several articles about Telles, alleging hostile behavior in his Las Vegas office and an affair with a subordinate.
Mr. German had another article to publish about Telles at the time of his death.
