Gregory Bruce English

English

Gregory Bruce English

Gregory Bruce English passed away on July 12, 2023 from a rare form of cancer. Mr. English was a criminal defense attorney in Alexandria whose most notorious clients included Rayful Edmond, III, the king of the Washington, DC drug dealers, and Commander Dick Marcinko, the author of Rogue Warrior and many other books. Mr. English graduated from Lynchburg College in 1969 where he participated in the Honors Program and was captain of the rugby football team. After completing six months of active duty with the Marine Corps Reserve, he attended the University of Virginia School of Law, graduating with a JD in 1973. While in law school he took Army ROTC and was a member of the Jefferson Sabers Honor Society. His first job as an attorney was as a Captain in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps where he spent three years as a prosecutor on Okinawa and another year doing appellate work. While on active duty he began postgraduate school at the National Law Center at George Washington University, receiving an LL.M. in Law, Psychiatry, and Criminology in 1979. Upon his discharge from the Army he joined the D.C. Army National Guard where he rose to become the Senior Legal Officer there, the Staff Judge Advocate. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel after receiving the Army Meritorious Service Medal and the DCARNG Distinguished Service Medal. Upon leaving active duty he was employed as a Senior Trial Attorney at the Narcotics Section of the Justice Department. In that capacity he prosecuted major drug cases at various locations in the United States, including members of the Mafia family in Cleveland who were convicted of RICO and other offenses. He was known at DOJ as being extremely innovative and aggressive, pioneering the use of joint agency task forces to prosecute the kingpins of major drug organizations. He was fond of saying that in joint operations with the FBI, it was always somebody else's joint that got operated on. He liked working with DEA. He received numerous awards including a Special Commendation from the Attorney General and the DEA Administrator's "Black Box" award which is given annually to the top prosecutor in the United States, as well as various other commendations. Mr. English began private practice in 1986. His practice was devoted to military and criminal law. Mr. English frequently said that his most significant accomplishment as a defense attorney was obtaining three consecutive acquittals in court-appointed capital murder cases before the United States District Court in Alexandria where his clients were Black Lorton inmates with extensive criminal records who were found not guilty by predominantly white southern juries. He was listed in Who's Who in American Law. Mr English is survived by his wife, Saundra English Prince, and his son, Erik Todd English. Arrangements for his burial at Arlington National Cemetery are pending.