Robert Telles GUILTY On All Counts & Eligible For Parole In 20 Years

welcome to Pretty Lies and aliis let's seek the truth and travel the long road to Justice together what you know aliers welcome to another episode of Pretty Lies and aliis I'm Gigi hope you've had a good day it's been a long one we were waiting on a verdict got a verdict guilty on all counts and sined to life with the possibil of parole in 20 years go figure uh if I look a hot mess right now it's because if you were on the live I thought my dog was whining so I go open the door and find out my cat had chased a little baby squirrel up into the drain on the side of my house I've been out there for an hour in southern heat and humidity ended up taking metal Cutters and had to cut the whole bottom part of the drain off to let the squirrel run out I put a video on YouTube cuz it let me pet him but it ran off all right you know to subscribe All That Jazz you girls tired and I am going to do this music fact of the day because I love it Bob Marley gave songwriting credits on Noom No Cry to his childhood friend Vincent Ford who ran a soup kitchen in Jamaica the royalties from that song help keep that kitchen running let's jump into to the guilty verdict and then the victim impact statements and then we will talk about what came next the jury came in and had guilty on all counts we all obviously were a little worried maybe there was a hold out on this jury or something was going on I really hope these jurors choose to talk to the media if they want I would be interested to know what happened in those three days they were deliberating if not we respect their privacy and are just grateful for that guilty verdict they had three options when it came to sentencing and jury got to decide the sentence the least severe was 50 years with parole and eligible after 20 they ended up and gave the middle sentence life with the possibility of parole after 20 years and the most severe was life without parole they chose that middle ground what's interesting is let's just say in theory he were to get paroled in 20 years Robert would be younger than Jeff was when he was murdered if you're watching on YouTube now we are just going to let the guilty verdict play until that's over but let's talk about Jay gearan the younger brother of Jeff he says they were born in Milwaukee and as a kid Jeff was into sports in fact he said that Jeff taught him everything he knew about sports Jeff excelled in every sport he was a good student he went to the University of Wisconsin and got his Masters in journalism at Marquette he moved Las Vegas and his first job there was with the Las Vegas son his brother said Jeff took every story seriously and he loved being an investigative reporter as brothers they loved to golf together he said that Jeff was the one that taught him he said Jeff was a natural and Jay said he only beat his brother once they played sports behind a lot behind their house as kids Jeff took him to his first Milwaukee Brewers game and they loved going to movies together now Jay was living in Las Vegas when Jeff was killed his sister Julie called him that night and told him the terrible news and he said it was such a rough night he said it's obviously been a hard couple of years for all the siblings he said Jeff was their leader now Jay just retired and he said his brother Jeff had no interest in retiring the siblings moved to Vegas to spend more time with Jeff he said they had gotten closer as they got older Jay hoped that they would be able to golf together go to the movies together just in his retirement he wanted to spend more time with his brother they show photos of them one was from the years of 1980 and at that point Jay did not live in Vegas but he came to visit he said that was his first flight he had ever taken and he and Jeff hung out on the Las Vegas Strip all night he said Jeff's murder's been devastating Jeff was very loved and Jeff loved his family he was very big on holidays he w wanted to be with his family he said it's going to take a lot of time to move past this and we miss him a lot if you're looking on the screen here on YouTube in the top left corner you will see the photo of Jeff and Jay on that trip new years's 1980 on the Las Vegas Strip couple of times he did grab some tissues and wipe his eyes the next victim impact statement was given by Jill that's Jeff's sister she's the youngest sibling she shows a photo of all of them when they were young and then an older photo of the siblings and then one of Jeff with her daughter she was the first niece or nephew to be born and he couldn't wait to meet her she said her son actually looks a lot like Jeff and he was the only nephew and Jeff loved him so much she talked about how wonderful of an Uncle Jeff was he accepted all of his nieces and nephew for who they were they grew up in Vegas so he was able to be there as they grew up and she wrote a statement this is not verbatim but I really wanted to get the most important parts the victim impact statements give us a glimpse into the person behind the headline that we followed for so long and I love hearing about who these people were in their life she says most of you know my brother is someone who went after corruption in our city they couldn't hide from him she says her and Jeff were eight years apart and he looked after her she said she took his advice to because he was always on Target and with that 8-year age Gap he was like a second father to her he helped her get a job at the same newspaper he worked at as soon as she finished college and they enjoyed the same food and music and she talked about them being on the media softball team together she said they had a blast when they won he was the first one she told when she got engaged she said she knew he would be at TGI Fridays and when she went to tell him bought a round of champagne for the entire bar she laughed and said Jeff was bad at texting but they talked a lot and he love family gatherings she said at Thanksgiving he ate all of the dark meat and she got upset and said holidays will never be the same without him there he was loyal fun and a respected colleague he never forgot his niece and nephew's birthday her son love Wisconsin Sports along with Jeff she said her daughter and Jeff were both viros and both had careers in journalism they asked him why he never wanted to leave Vegas and he said it's Sin City he was Fearless in reporting on corruption she names all of these big cases that Jeff broke including liberachi's AIDS diagnosis as well as his death Jeff was the author of the book murder in Sin City death of a casino boss and that was actually made into a lifetime movie Jeff also had an award-winning podcast mobbed up the fight for Las Vegas she said I feel like in the last two years I've been living in a murder novel one Jeff could have written himself I never imagined Jeff would be a national news story being murdered by coldblooded elected official in broad daylight but in typical Jeff fashion he was able to have Robert identified and locked up after his own murder to the world he was a dedicated and respected journalist but to our family he was Big Brother Jeff and our children's loving Uncle she gets emotional and said he has missed every single day the next witness Julie Smith this is Jeff's sister she shows a big family photo from her daughter's wedding that was 8 years ago she said Jeff was very close to her daughter and then she showed a photo of Jeff with his three nieces she said their mother always made a huge meal at holidays and they kept that tradition going everybody looked up to him and they all migrated to Vegas since Jeff lived there and they saw a side of Jeff that most didn't get to experience at family gatherings Jeff would display his playful and awesome sense of humor he loved sitcoms and his favorite were Two and a Half Men in Seinfeld and he often used lines from those shows his house was meticulous picture perfect and he was into symmetry everything had to be on one side just like the other he meant so much to our family and we all will miss him she gets emotional and says I'm the emotional one we will never share laughter with him again and his murder is a loss we will not recover from really beautiful Victim Impact statements by Jeff's siblings it really sounds like Jeff is somebody you would want to hang out with he did a tough job but he did a job that's very needed in this day and age which is exposing corruption and I can't imagine how devastating their loss is next up Robert's wife when asked if she knows Robert she says just a little they met 15 years ago they've been married almost 14 she said it's been a great and then she stops and says every marriage has its ups and downs but a great marriage overall she talks about when they first got married they had a baby and he started law school she said his work ethic is second to none he was ambitious and wanted to do everything to move him self ahead and he was a great provider for his family she said monetarily and we are a blended family he was always there for our kids he attended every school event and was the one who helped with homework because he has an unlimited amount of patience he was the fun parent shows photos of their family those were not put on screen and she said Robert treated her son from a previous relationship the same as if he was his own her son was 3 years old old when they got together and to this day he doesn't treat him any differently she said Robert is was he is an amazing father to this day he tries to share experiences with the kids he talks to my daughter about anime and they send each other drawings he's fostered his relationship with his kids even while in jail she said that she would love for her children to have a chance to have their father back and that was it for her the next witness Tanya Burton that is Robert's ex-wife as well as the mother of his 16-year-old daughter she said Robert is a great dad he loves her and she misses him every day he's always been an advocate for his daughter's diabetes and he was up on every new technology new sensors very big on making sure her diet was appropriate for Her diagnosis she said in spite of the fact they obviously aren't together they've continued to co-parent and he included her other children with his she said Robert is capable of change and learning if he has that direction she said she has hope that Robert can walk her daughter down the aisle and be there when she has children the last witness to take the stand for Robert Rose anah Robert's mother she says she was 18 when Robert was born Robert was a great big brother to his siblings to good care of them they show a photo of when Robert was a baby and then around age five with his siblings those were not put on screen she said Robert became man at the house when he was 13 his mom got divorced and she went back to work and back to school while she was working and at school Robert made sure his siblings were fed and got them to bed every night she was a single mom she said she couldn't afford school clothes so when Robert was 13 they would go pick chilies in a field for $2 a bucket by the way Robert grew up in El Paso Texas Robert came to her rescue to protect her he got a job at a gas station in high school and he took his siblings to school every morning and picked them up she said he was a good dad very involved he helped her financially and they still talk several times a week we thought she was Dum she asked the judge if she could say something else and she speaks directly to the jury she said she accepts the verdict but please give him a chance at perole his family is Young and she wants him to have a chance with them the defense he said the Judgment you pass will leave a mark on Robert's life as well as yours we have two devastated families what's the appropriate sentence it's a murder case no sentence is ever going to bring Jeff back he said another consideration is deterrence the sentence you decide is the sentence that stays another consideration is Rehabilitation any sentence you determine involves a heavy prison sentence we heard from his family he's smart he's capable of learning any sentence you impose will be a long period of incarceration impossibly forever and I'm asking you not to do that another consideration is retribution he says we come from the judeo-christian an ey for an eye a tooth for a tooth he said he's not a very religious man but we end up being blind and Toothless it's a tug-of-war between retribution and Redemption for justice to be Justice there needs to be an element of mercy and Hope he said we don't forgive to let an offender off forgiveness is for us preserving ourselves as a society we have to have an element of mercy and forgiveness Robert's intelligent and he can learn the sentence you can decide how will it affect his family his kids and we respect your verdict but what happens now give his kids the opportunity decades from now to have their dad back maybe his mom will be alive and give her the chance to have her son back allow for there to be Mercy in the determination he said Robert will not speak but he maintains his innocence and don't punish him for that give him a chance as an old man to be around his grandkids don't lock him up and throw away the key the state gets up and with crimes like this there's a ripple effect we're here because of Robert's actions it was the manner in which he chose to handle this sit situation that caused the ripple effect on his family and Jeff's Robert is not the same as most who go through the system he's educated and had a pretty good upbringing the world wasn't going to end in his situation he simply lost his election and he chose no one forced his hand one thing we need to talk about is the idea of what the defense mentioned Redemption versus retribution when you think about the ACT he committed on Jeff what was that it was an act of Retribution he decided to be judge jury and literally the Executioner to a man who was doing his job he didn't have to do it but that's how Robert felt it was appropriate to handle this situation he took the patriarch of a family away because he didn't like what was being written about him this is the way he decides to handle things when he feels slided atonement is appropriate in certain circumstances but when he took the stand he was willing to sacrifice the reputations of compass members of the PA's office members of law enforcement detective gtis detective jappy detective MOG the DNA lab and even the DA's office why to save himself that's the length he was willing to go to to save himself it's a really scary thought life is an appropriate punishment whether it's with the possibility of Parole in 20 years but a life sentence is appropriate Robert decided to kill someone he felt slided against and the beauty of it is if he ever gets out he will always be monitored there is a chance of dangerousness in him there's a chance something like this could happen again and that should be considered the other is we shouldn't ignore what happened here a journalist wrote a series of stories and lost their life because of it because Robert didn't like the consequences of the stories life is appropriate whether parole eligibility is something you wish to Grant we leave that to you he was highly intelligent he had a loving family with a future ahead of him and his life wasn't over he let his ego and pride get in the way and it manifested in the worst possible way and we've lost one of the best investigative journalists in the world and that was it and the jury came back with that middle he has to serve 20 years before he's eligible for parole it's their call they they heard this case they deliberated they made the choice they felt was right I do feel like the three women that spoke on Robert's behalf his current wife his ex-wife and his mother swayed that jury a bit especially when the mom turns and looks at that jury because you've got seven women on that jury I believe who are probably moms and I think maybe that's what swayed them and hearing these stories of how he was a great dad but here's the thing for me the minute that he chose to kill Jeff gearan he was not thinking of his kids because regardless of whether he gets Parole in 20 years or never these kids will deal with the trauma of their dad's terrible decision in a moment where he was thinking about anything but them I think Robert Tellus is a dangerous man I think that if he gets out in 20 30 years if I were anybody that he accused of setting him up I would probably be scared sometime in October for the formal sentencing but what a crazy trial even though it wasn't really a who done it twists and turns and him taking the stand and everything he spewed up there there were times my mouth was just wide open and then we got into this drama of deliberations going in today so if any of the jurors speak out I'll let you know what they say hopefully they will but that's it for now the next big trial we're gonna be on Donna adelon that starts next month and then pretty much right after Donna adidon we have Sarah Boon going to trial so it's going to be a busy month or month and a few weeks for this podcast come along I'll be live streaming both trials all day every day and I'll do like I did in this a recap in an hour hour or less of the day's testimony big thank you to the mods who held down the chat every day you guys rock and to the people that came in and chatted we have such an amazing little Community we've created and it's just a great chat it's a safe place where we all just talk about what we're hearing so come join us if you have time all right we will see you guys in the next day or so I think I may take a day off tomorrow just to chill I hope you guys have a good rest of your evening we'll see you soon [Music]