Wifredo Ferrer (gov)

A former deputy chief of staff to Attorney General Janet Reno is expected to be nominated as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, The Miami Herald reports.

Wifredo Ferrer, who currently is an assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney, reportedly is undergoing a final FBI review before the nomination is made. If nominated and confirmed, Ferrer, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, would be the fourth lawyer of Cuban descent to be the U.S. Attorney in Miami, though only the first nominated by a Democratic president.

The last Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney in Miami, R. Alexander Acosta, became the dean of Miami’s Florida International University law school on July 1. Since then, veteran prosecutor Jeffrey Sloman has been running the office on an acting basis.

David Buckner (Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton)

Reno praised her former aide in an interview with the Herald.

“First of all, he understood better than anybody I’ve worked with how the federal government works with local and state governments,” Reno said, adding, “If I wanted to write the book about how to be the U.S. attorney, Willy would be one of my models.”

John Hogan, Reno’s former chief of staff, told the newspaper: “When you look at the power of the U.S. attorney and that office, it’s essential that someone with a good moral compass heads it.” Hogan told The Miami Herald he encouraged Ferrer early on to pursue the position.

Daryl Trawick (Gov)

Ferrer was one of three finalists for the office.  The others were  former Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Buckner of Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami; and Daryl E. Trawick, a Dade County, Fla. Circuit Court judge who stirred controversy by keeping a non-public secret docket at the request of state prosecutors to shield a drug informant.

President Obama is closer to nominating the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, the Daily Business Review reported, according to the Southern District of Florida blog.

The White House is vetting Wifredo “Willy” Ferrer for the Miami-based post. He is an assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney. Read Ferrer’s full bio here.

He would succeed R. Alexander Acosta, who resigned last summer to become the dean of Miami’s Florida International University law school. Jeffrey Sloman is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.

Ferrer came out of a pool of three finalists who were submitted to the White House for consideration last summer. We reported last month that Dade County judge Daryl Trawick and former Assistant U.S. Attorney David Buckner were also receiving special scrutiny in Florida.

Trawick once helped put phony court documents in the public docket at the request of state prosecutors, which could be a violation of state law. As for Buckner, he played a role in a controversial terrorism case.

Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) met with a White House official earlier this month to discuss the U.S. Attorney recommendations for the Middle and Southern districts of Florida, the St. Petersburg Times’ Buzz blog reported yesterday.

George LeMieux (Gov)

LeMieux, who was appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist (R) after Sen. Mel Martinez (R) resigned in September, had a meeting with White House Counsel Greg Craig on Nov. 9, according to the blog. The senator’s office declined to comment to the Buzz about the meeting.

People close to Crist, who will run for Senate next year, are expressing concerns about Jacksonville, Fla., lawyer Harry Shorstein, who, according to the blog, is a finalist for the Middle District of Florida job.

We reported in September that the State Attorney for the state’s 4th Judicial Circuit, Republican Angela Corey, wrote to Martinez and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) to ask them not to recommend Shorstein, who was her former boss at the office. Two years ago, Shorstein fired Corey and later spoke out against her bid for election to the state prosecuting job. But last year, Corey easily beat Shorstein’s former chief of staff in the bitterly contested election.

The current U.S. Attorney in the Middle District is Bush-administration holdover A. Brian Albritton.

Some of the finalists for the Southern District of Florida are also receiving additional scrutiny in Florida. We reported this week that Daryl E. Trawick, a judge in Dade County, once helped put phony court documents in the public docket at the request of state prosecutors, which could be a violation of state law. In addition, former Assistant U.S. Attorney David M. Buckner, another finalist for the U.S. Attorney post, played a role in a controversial terrorism case.

Jeffrey H. Sloman is the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.

Here are the finalists for the Middle and Southern district U.S. Attorney posts:

Middle District:

– Harry Shorstein, who is a partner at the Jacksonville law firm of Shorstein & Lasnetski where he works on white-collar crimes cases. He previously served as a Florida state attorney. He has also worked as a general counsel for Jacksonville and as a Naval judge advocate. Read his full bio here.

– Robert O’Neill, who was interim U.S. Attorney for the Middle District in 2008 and currently leads the office’s criminal division.

– Roger Handberg, who is an Assistant U.S. Attorney, in charge of the Middle District’s Orlando office.

Southern District:

– Wifredo Ferrer, who is an assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney.

– David M. Buckner, who is a partner at Miami’s Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney.

— Daryl E. Trawick, who is a Dade County Circuit Court judge.

A finalist for Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney once helped put phony court documents in the public docket at the request of state prosecutors, an apparent violation of state law, the Broward Bulldog news Web site reported last week.

Daryl Trawick (Gov)

Daryl Trawick, a judge in Dade County, Fla., had the clerk’s office at the county court alter the public docket in 2002 to shield an informant in a drug case, the news site said. Then, he kept a parallel secret docket to know what was really happening in the case, the site said.

The fake entries made it seem as if drug charges had been lifted against the informant, Salim Batrony, even though in reality he’d pleaded guilty to money laundering, the news site said.

Florida law prohibits anyone from making changes to court records or proceedings. A violator could face up to a year in prison.

A Tarwick spokesperson declined to comment to the Broward Bulldog. But, according to the Web site, the judge admitted to modifying the court docket in a statement to the Miami Herald a couple years ago.

Florida’s Judicial Qualifications Commission found no evidence of unlawful activity after it launched a probe into the phony documents, according to the news Web site. The records, however, had been erased from the public docket before the investigation, and the panel never requested saved copies of the phony documents, the Broward Bulldog said.

David Buckner (Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton)

David Buckner, another finalist for the U.S. Attorney post, also played a role in a similar case, according to the Broward Bulldog.

The former Southern District Assistant U.S. Attorney assisted in secret legal proceedings that involved Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel, who was detained by federal authorities for months following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and filed a habeas corpus petition to contest his captivity, according to the news Web site.

The court proceedings only became public after a court error. Similar court activity is traditionally open to the public. News of the secret proceedings started a national discussion on court secrecy, according to the news Web site.

Buckner, a partner at Miami’s Kozyak Tropin Throckmorton law firm, told the Broward Bulldog he was prohibited from discussing the legal proceedings.

Wifredo Ferrer, an assistant Dade County, Fla., attorney, is also a finalist for the U.S. Attorney post. The names of the finalists were leaked in July.

Three finalists have been announced for Miami U.S. Attorney reports the Southern District of Florida Blog:

• Wifredo Ferrer, an assistant Dade County Attorney
• David M. Buckner, from Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami.
• Daryl E. Trawick, a Dade Circuit Court judge

You can read the blog’s in-depth coverage of the interviews, which are open to the public, here.

You can also read the Chief Judge’s plea to employees that they not attend the open interviews here.

We reported last month that there were 16 applicants for the position:

• David M. Buckner, from Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton in Miami.
• Reginald R. Corlew, Palm Beach Circuit Court judge
• Wifredo Ferrer, an assistant Dade County Attorney
• Richard D. Gregorie, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Miami division
• Ilona M. Holmes, a Broward Circuit Court judge
• Marvelle McIntyre-Hall, who retired as an assistant U.S. Attorney in 2006
• Brian P. Miller, with Akerman-Senterfitt in Miami
• Curtis B. Miner, with Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables
• Thomas J. Mulvihill, an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Miami division
• Lilly Ann Sanchez, of Fowler White Burnett in Miami
• Mark P. Schnapp, of Greenberg Traurig in Miami
• Jeffrey H. Sloman, the acting U.S. Attorney now that Alex Acosta has taken a job at Florida International University.
• James H. Swain, who has a private practice in Hollywood
• Daryl E. Trawick, a Dade Circuit Court judge
• Sandra J. Wiseman, who has a private practice in Venice
• William Richard Scruggs, a former special assistant to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno who first came to the DOJ through the prestigious Attorney General’s Honor’s Program and has a backgrond in national security.  Scruggs has been credited with, among other things, “regularizing” the FISA process after the passing of the head of the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) Mary Lawton.