MIAMI – A lawyer already accused of having sex with an inmate is now accused of smuggling cellphones into a jail.
Jessica Mishali, whose married name is Jessica David, said she was taken by surprise when the allegations were made against her Monday in court.
The Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation Department claims that guards found Mishali's client, Ysreal Granda, with nine cellphones in his jail cell in the past few months.
"When I went to visit him in Miami-Dade, I was told that I was banned," Mishali told Local 10 News. "They then allowed me about a week later back into the facility behind the glass, and they are stating that it is under -- that I am under -- suspicion."
Granda, who was convicted of attempted murder in Broward County, retained Mishali as his legal counsel in another murder trial in Miami-Dade County.
Mishali claims that the guards are providing her client with the cellphones.
"You are entitled to have confidential visitation with your client, but to go beyond that to say that any one of the officers that are in this courtroom or that work in any of our facilities are intentionally targeting your client are absolutely absurd," Patricia Jones, an attorney with the Miami-Dade Corrections & Rehabilitation Department, said in court.
Mishali said the glass partition prevents her from giving Granda court documents and that guards can listen in on her conversations.
A Miami-Dade County judge denied Mishali's request to meet with her client in private.
Mishali was banned from all Broward County jails in January after the Broward Sheriff's Office said a deputy walked in on her and Granda having sex in an interview room at the main jail. The ban has since been lifted.
"Eight of the nine cellphones that he's ever been caught with, he was caught with before he ever met me," Mishali said.