Recap of Robert Telles' jury sentence in his murder trial

[Music] guilty a first degree murder with use of a deadly weapon a case many in our Valley have been following for years Robert tell is the former Clark County public administrator guilty of murdering reporter Jeff Gman this was a crime in our opinion that was clearly premeditated today gan's family finding closure the tragic and brutal taking of his life has resulted in a loss that I don't think he'll recover Justice now served in a case Las Vegas and many Across the Nation won't soon forget Robert Tellis will spend the rest of his life in prison without with the possibility of parole thank you so much for joining us here on channel 13 live at 6 I'm J M and I'm eel Garcia the jury returning the verdict for the former politician convicted of murdering Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Jeff Gman in September of 2022 yeah senior reporter Elizabeth and court has been at the courthouse all day and she joins us live tonight with the very latest able and Joe just a huge day in this trial we know we now know that Robert Telles will be in prison for the rest of his life with the possibility of parole after 20 years you can see I'm joined here by our senior reporter Jay Juan Jung she has been covering this trial uh for the past two weeks today of course day one the biggest day of the trial thus far but something that was really interesting to see and here was Jeff garman's family we really have not heard from them in the past 2 years since since the reporter was murdered and now we do have a better idea of who he was beyond just his position and how he sered the Las Vegas Community yeah first of all I just want to say Jeff G's family has been very dedicated they've been coming to pretty much every single proceeding in this trial and today for the first time we heard from them and it was some emotional testimony and you know a lot of people know Jeff Gman the dogged investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review Journal but today we finally found out more about Jeff Gman the person he grew up in Milwaukee Wisconsin he was the oldest brother out of four siblings he loved Sports he loved going out and of course he loved uncovering corruption and that's what made him so famous in the city of Las Vegas pretty much everybody in our community knew who he was and this sound bite that I um just want to toss to from his sister Jill absolutely just gave me goosebumps inside the courtroom it was so emotional take a listen to what she had to say these past two years it felt like I've been living in a chapter of a murder novel as it unfolds one that my brother Jeff could have written entitled murder in Sin City part two the death of a journalist I never imagined that Jeff himself would have become a national headline news story for his murder By A coldblooded elected City official in broad daylight but in typical Jeff fashion he was able to have his attack identified and locked up behind bars after his own murder wow just some powerful words right there doesn't that just give you Goosebumps absolutely and when I heard it you know I was watching the live stream you were up in the courtroom but every single member of his family had such beautiful words to share and just them saying they never imagine that Jeff Garman would become the headline very impactful moving moments inside of that courtroom today and of course they must be relieved to see that justice has finally been served some closure for them absolutely not only that jaywan but something that was also surprising for me to listen to was Robert tell's family they really have not been in front of the cameras at all since all of this happened Robert Telles has spoken with you quite a few times and I do know that but Robert tellas his family again behind the scenes and today we heard them well we saw them really crying we heard them saying that they love him what was that like watching that unfold well it was pretty surprising because they have not been coming to any proceeding at all during this trial so seeing them in person and seeing them get emotional while they were on the stand was pretty surprising to everybody and they were really just telling the jurors to give him Mercy you have to remember Tellis had a family of his own he had three children he had a stepson he had two daughters one from a previous marriage and you know this impacts his his family too it does and that's something that we don't talk about often the impact that this has on his family but I know that his mother also spoke out today and that was a pretty uh emotional moment for her as well absolutely take a listen to what she had to say I ask you so please I accept the verdict and if you could please give my son a chance of parole his family is still very young and I would like for him to someday be back with him again please and right after ts's mother went off the stand I saw her face Tellus telling him I love you son and then walking out and Tellus was really breaking down pretty much the entirety of his family testimony so he definitely got emotional as well and that was almost a last minute thing because I know the defense had almost finished questioning her and she took a moment to say wait a second can I have one more opportunity to look at the jury and talk to them begging for that extra time that he could possibly spend with his family at some point now we know that he will be spending his life in prison but he will have that opportunity after 20 years I do want to ask you something because there are some enhancements that the judge can make right based off of everything that happened today what exactly does that look like yeah those enhancements are because this was willful deliberate and premeditated the jury unanimously found this the jury also unanimously found that this was by means of lying in weight they also found that it was by means of elderly abuse so because of those enhancements the judge on October 16th will put a sentence on top of the sentence that the jury returned today very important to mention jaywan thank you so much very dedicated to this trial today again you guys a huge day in the Robert Tellis trial not only did we hear a verdict but now we know what his sentence will be we'll send it back to you guys in the studio