A district judge extended the sentence for a former county official convicted of murdering a longtime Las Vegas journalist, ruling on Wednesday that he will have to spend at least 28 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

The journalist, Jeff German, had taken on mob bosses and casino titans during his four decades as a reporter. But it was a series of articles focused on an obscure county office and its leader, Robert Telles, that ultimately served as the motive for his murder in September 2022, prosecutors argued at trial.

A Clark County jury convicted Mr. Telles of first-degree murder in August, and he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years. On Wednesday, Judge Michelle Leavitt, who has discretion under Nevada law to consider enhancements, added eight years to that minimum sentence because the murder involved a deadly weapon and a victim who was 60 years or older.

A lawyer for Mr. Telles said that he planned to appeal. Mr. Telles has already been behind bars for about two years.

Mr. German’s killing had raised concerns about press freedom, in particular the safety of reporters covering their own communities.

It also devastated his close-knit family, his brother, Jay German, told Judge Leavitt on Wednesday.

“We’ve had a couple of his birthdays since he’s passed,” Jay German said. “It’s nice to get together as a family and kind of visit with Jeff, but it’s not the same, and it never will be.”

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