LAS VEGAS (AP) A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female coworker.

A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for elements including use of a deadly weapon, laying in wait and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Robert Telles guilty of murder.

Telles, 47, testified in his defense and denied stabbing Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But evidence against him was strong including his DNA beneath Germans fingernails.

At the time, Telles was the elected administrator of a county office that handles unclaimed estate and probate property cases. He has been jailed without bail since his arrest several days after the attack.

Telles defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, has said Telles intends to appeal his conviction.

German was 69. He was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.

Telles lost his primary for a second term in office after Germans stories in May and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.