Robert Telles, Las Vegas Journalist Killer, Files Appeal

Robert Telles, the former county administrator convicted of murdering the Las Vegas reporter who investigated him, filed a notice on Monday appealing that conviction to the Nevada Supreme Court. In August, Telles, now 48, was sentenced to 20 years to life for the first-degree murder of Jeff German, who was 69.

The court document, obtained by KLAS-TV/Las Vegas, was handwritten by Telles, who is no longer represented by his trial attorneys.

In fact, Telles was barely represented by them at trial. Ignoring their advice, the former attorney (though never a criminal one) took the stand in his own defense. Even more unusually, instead of having his attorneys question him, Telles testified by narrative — something that pretty much only happens when defense attorneys believe the testimony their client is presenting is false.

Telles claimed he was framed. He claimed that a Las Vegas reality company, whom Telles said he battled in the course of his job duties to expose corruption, arranged for German’s murder just to get Telles to stop investigating the company — even though German was murdered after Telles was voted out of office.

Telles, who has proclaimed his innocence since his arrest in September 2022, presented not a shred of evidence supporting his cockamamie theory. However, the jury heard a breathtaking amount of it condemning him.

It included a text message from his wife asking “Where are you?” at the time of the murder, the discovery of Telles’ DNA under German’s fingernails, and video recordings of a man driving Telles’ car and entering the murder scene wearing a straw hat later found shredded up in Telles’ house.

In October, Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt added eight to 20 years to Telles’ sentence because of the weapon he used and because his victim was over age 60. Telles is currently serving his time at Nevada’s High Desert State Prison, 40 miles outside Las Vegas.

Once his appeal is denied, Telles will be eligible for parole in 2050, when he will be 74.

Jeff German was a respected newspaper reporter who investigated corruption in local government for the Las Vegas Review-Journal — and before that, the Las Vegas Sun — for more than 40 years.