Gary L. Bergosh is a Circuit Court Judge in The First Judicial Circuit of Florida and is in his 16th year of service as a judge. During his tenure, he has presided over 100-criminal jury trials and over 50-civil jury trials including several death penalty cases, a case concerning serial killer Craig Price and complex civil cases including Accardo v. Brown, 139 So.3d 848 (Fla. 2014). Judge Bergosh currently handles civil, criminal and family law cases and he presides over the Escambia County Veterans' Court.
Adopted at the age of twelve by a Navy Enlisted Petty Officer First Class, Judge Bergosh lived around the world as a child. Inspired to serve his country by his dad and after working as a Teamster with United Parcel Service to pay for college, Judge Bergosh earned a commission in the United States Marine Corps in 1989. He served on active and reserve duty for 25-years at various locations around the world, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. Judge Bergosh's Marine Corps unit, the 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion, was deployed with the First Marine Division on January 27, 2003 to fight the Nation's war against terrorism. Judge Bergosh served as the Battalion's Executive Officer (XO) in Kuwait and Iraq during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom and he was nominated for the Bronze Star Medal and subsequently awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his service in Southwest Asia.
During his legal career, Judge Bergosh has served as a Florida Assistant State Attorney, a senior attorney with the Department of Defense Office of the General Counsel and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney. He has handled complex felony criminal and civil cases involving the Federal Tort Claims Act, Medical Care Recovery Act, Federal Claims Collection Act and federal labor and employment litigation. After Hurricane Ivan demolished Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida in 2004, Judge Bergosh was assigned legal review over One Billion Dollars in contracting and construction on the base and to advise the government on the largest mitigation project in the history of the National Historic Preservation Act. He also advised the Navy on environmental mitigation to allow for the U.S.S. Ex-Oriskany, a World War II era Air Craft Carrier, to be sunk 24-miles off of Pensacola, Florida, making it the largest artificial reef in the world.
In May of 2004, the Pensacola Business Journal selected Judge Bergosh as one of Pensacola's forty up and coming individuals under forty years of age (40 under 40). Judge Bergosh was Honored by the Florida Bar Association with The Florida Patriot Award in November of 2021.
Then Second Lieutenant and Mrs. Carissa Bergosh were married on June 16, 1990 and are the proud parents of Alexander (21) and Benjamin (16).