A former Nevada politician was found guilty on Wednesday for the murder of an investigative journalist who wrote critical stories about his time in office.
Robert Telles, 47, has been jailed since 2022 for the stabbing of Las Vegas Review-Journal journalist Jeff German.
At trial, prosecutors presented the jury with DNA evidence found under Mr German’s fingernails that 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 now could face a life sentence after the jury’s verdict.
The 12 jurors deliberated for four hours on Monday and roughly six hours on Tuesday before the panel came to its conclusion.
The trial had stretched over two weeks before closing arguments began on Monday.
In September 2022, Mr German, 69, was found after he was stabbed seven times in the neck and torso outside his Nevada home.
The veteran reporter had spent more than four decades covering the city and corruption.
He had written multiple articles about Telles, alleging hostile behaviour in his Las Vegas office and an affair with a subordinate.
Mr German had one more article to publish about Telles at the time of his death.