Former Nevada politician Robert Tellis was convicted of murdering Las Vegas journalist Jeff German, who published several articles accusing Tellis of harassment and workplace misconduct. Las Vegas Review Journal Reports.
Tellis was convicted of first-degree murder, with the jury finding that German’s killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated.” Tellis, a former Clark County sheriff, faces life in prison, with the penalty phase of the trial set to begin today, Aug. 28. Tellis’ attorney did not immediately return. Rolling StoneRequest comment.
Prosecutors accused Telles of “lurking” in the bushes outside German’s home, then stabbing him to death in September 2022. Prosecutors said the killing was in retaliation for articles German had written for The New York Times. Review JournalThe article included allegations that Tillis created a toxic work environment and had an “inappropriate relationship” with an employee (Tillis has denied the allegations). Shortly after German's articles were published, Tillis lost his bid for re-election.
During the two-week trial, the prosecution bolstered this gruesome revenge narrative with a variety of evidence. They said DNA found under German’s fingernails matched Tellis’s; they said they found a wide-brimmed straw hat, sneakers and a gray bag at Tellis’s home that matched items seen on the attacker in surveillance footage; and they said surveillance footage appeared to show Tellis’s car driving through German’s neighborhood the morning German was killed before returning to Tellis’s neighborhood.
In response, Telles and his attorney, Robert Draskovic, tried to claim that the former CEO had been defrauded. Telles even testified on his own behalf, saying that he had been defrauded by officials and a real estate company he was supposed to investigate while he was CEO (the company denied the allegation).
After the verdict was issued, Review Journal “Today, a Clark County jury delivered a verdict of justice in favor of Jeff German, and we hope it brings some comfort to his family, friends and colleagues,” said Executive Editor Glenn Cook. “Jeff was killed because he did the kind of work he was proud of: his reporting held an elected official accountable for misconduct and enabled voters to choose someone else for the job. Robert Tillis could have joined the long line of Nevada politicians who have been publicly disgraced and who have moved on with their lives, either out of the spotlight or back into it. Instead, he carried out a premeditated, vengeful killing with horrifying brutality.”
German was widely respected for decades of dogged reporting for both Review Journal And the other major local newspaper, Las Vegas Sun“He was the most persistent reporter I ever dealt with and would not accept a platitude as an answer,” said former Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Rumbolz. Rolling Stone “In 2022. “He also didn’t take no for an answer or no comment. He found more ways to ask the same question from different angles to try to get at what he was interested in than any reporter I’ve ever dealt with. He was amazing in that way.”
