Former Nevada politician Robert Telles was convicted of the murder of Las Vegas journalist Jeff German, who had published several articles accusing Telles of harassment and workplace misconduct. Las Vegas Review-Journal defeated.

Telles was convicted of first-degree murder, with the jury finding that German’s killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated.” Telles, who once served as Clark County Public Administrator, faces a possible life sentence with the sentencing phase of the trial beginning today, Aug. 28. An attorney for Telles did not immediately return Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.

Prosecutors accused Telles of “lurking” in the bushes outside German’s home before stabbing him to death in September 2022. The killing, prosecutors said, was in retaliation for articles German had written for the Review Journalwhich included allegations that Telles had created a toxic work environment and had an “inappropriate relationship” with a staffer (Telles denied these allegations). Not long after German’s articles were published, Telles lost his bid for re-election.

During the two-week trial, the prosecution bolstered this shocking tale of revenge with several pieces of evidence. They said DNA found under German’s fingernails matched Telles’s; they said they found a wide-brimmed straw hat, sneakers and a gray bag in Telles’ home that matched items the attacker was seen carrying on surveillance footage; and they said the surveillance footage appeared to show Telles’ car driving around German’s neighborhood the morning German was killed before returning to Telles’s neighborhood.

In response, Telles and his attorney, Robert Draskovich, attempted to claim that the former official had been set up. Telles even testified on his own behalf, suggesting that he had been set up by officials and a real estate company that he allegedly investigated during his time as an official (the company has denied this allegation).

After the verdict, Review Journal Editor-in-Chief Glenn Cook said: “Today, a jury in Clark County delivered a measure of justice for Jeff German, and we hope it brings some comfort to his family, friends and colleagues. Jeff was killed because he did the kind of work he was proud of: His reporting held an elected official accountable for bad behavior and gave voters the power to elect someone else to the job. Robert Telles could have joined the long line of publicly shamed Nevada politicians who have moved on with their lives, out of the spotlight or back in. Instead, he carried out a premeditated revenge killing with terrifying brutality.”

German was widely praised for his decades of dogged reporting for both the Review Journal and the other major local newspaper, the Las Vegas sun“He was the most tenacious reporter I ever dealt with and wouldn’t accept a simple platitude as an answer,” former Gaming Control Board Chairman Mike Rumbolz said 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 perspectives to try to figure out what he was interested in than any reporter I’ve ever dealt with. He was amazing in that regard.”