Facebook posts attributed to a state-employed public defender, Jennifer Miralles, led to condemnations from a state lawmaker in 2024. Miralles’ Iowa law license was recently suspended due to a third-offense drunken driving conviction. (Main photo by Getty Images)
Due to a felony drunken driving conviction, the Iowa Supreme Court has suspended the license of an attorney who last year expressed disappointment that President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin had “missed.”
The attorney, Jennifer Miralles, is a former employee of the Iowa Office of State Public Defender and also served as lead attorney for a Nebraska state agency.
According to a sworn statement filed with the Iowa Supreme Court by Miralles, she has worked as an attorney in Nebraska since 2003. In September 2017 and April 2021, she was convicted of drunken driving, and in November 2022 she was charged with third-offense driving under the influence of alcohol, a felony.
In her statement, Miralles explained that for several months before her 2022 arrest she had been sober, but the night before her arrest she drank alcohol to quell anxiety associated with new job duties. Early the next morning, while running an errand, she attempted to send a text message to her daughter and struck a utility pole, she said.
Immediately after her arrest, she informed the Nebraska Supreme Court’s counsel for discipline of the incident. In June 2023, with the criminal case against her still pending, Miralles was admitted to practice law in Iowa. In August 2023, she pleaded no contest to third-offense DUI, and in December 2023, a conviction was entered in the case. She was then sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to serve three years of probation.
After serving her jail sentence, she informed Iowa’s Attorney Disciplinary Board of the case for the first time, and began working in Council Bluffs as a public defender. As a result of her arrest and conviction, the state of Nebraska sanctioned Miralles with a private reprimand.
In her sworn statement, Miralles said she was unaware of the need to inform Iowa’s disciplinary board of the 2022 arrest prior to the conviction being entered.
Court opts for a three-month suspension
Miralles recently consented to an Iowa law license suspension of up to six months but argued for a 30-day suspension. She noted that at the time of the 2022 arrest, she had been the lead attorney for the Nebraska Division of Public Health and “was focused on my Nebraska license.”
The Iowa Attorney Disciplinary Board recommended a three-month license suspension, arguing her failure to update Iowa regulators with news of her arrest was “dishonest by omission” since she “had actual knowledge of both her requirement to update (regulators) and of her arrest and charge of DUI.”
The board noted that Nebraska had imposed only a private reprimand for the felony conviction and did not impose any sanctions for Miralles’ first two drunken-driving convictions. The Iowa Supreme Court recently agreed with the board’s recommendation and suspended Miralles’ Iowa law license for three months.
In her sworn statement, Miralles stated she had turned to alcohol as a result of domestic violence she had suffered. “Being a prosecuting attorney at the time this had occurred,” she stated, “I didn’t want anyone to know, and it was humiliating to me and so I suffered internally and ultimately with alcohol, as opposed to seeking proper help.”
Miralles also stated that in working as a public defender and more recently as a court-appointed attorney for the indigent, she has dealt with individuals who have drug or alcohol issues and is “grateful I have the opportunity to give back.”
‘Dammit … they missed!’
Neither the Attorney Disciplinary Board filings nor the Iowa Supreme Court decision make any reference to an incident last summer that occurred while Miralles was still working for the Office of the State Public Defender.
In July 2024, Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to shoot the then-presumptive Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump, at a campaign appearance in Butler, Pennsylvania. According to social media posts captured and reposted by others, Miralles posted the comments, “Dammit,” and, “they missed!” in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Those comments generated online objections from Trump supporters, to which Miralles responded, “put it this way, I’m Glad Hitler is dead.”
At the time, Iowa Rep. Steve Holt, a Republican state lawmaker, questioned whether Miralles should be working for the Office of State Public Defender. Holt wrote on Facebook: “I am seeing what appear to be reliable posts that a member of the State Public Defender’s Office in Iowa made statements on social media declaring that she was ‘sorry the shooter missed’ in the Trump assassination attempt. An investigation is ongoing. Any such rhetoric is unacceptable.”
In the aftermath of Miralles’ posts, a Facebook post attributed to State Public Defender Jeff Wright stated, “This reprehensible statement does not in any way reflect the position of the Office of the State Public Defender. This type of rhetoric should not be condoned or tolerated.”
State records suggest Miralles’ employment with the Office of State Public Defender ended sometime in 2024, but no one at that office could be reached Thursday for the specifics of her employment history.
State records show Miralles’ annual salary in 2024 was $104,062.