Sam Garrison

Sam Garrison III (February 21, 1942 – May 27, 2007) was an American lawyer, probably best known for his role as minority counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, defending President Richard Nixon in the 1974 impeachment hearings, and for his subsequent gay activism.

Early years Garrison graduated as valedictorian of the 1959 class of Roanoke Catholic High School, aged 17. He was president of his fraternity at the University of Virginia, where he received an undergraduate degree in 1963, and then a law degree in 1966. From there he became an assistant commonwealth's attorney in his home town of Roanoke, and by 1969, at age 27, became the youngest person elected as the Commonwealth's Attorney.

Back to Roanoke Garrison later moved back to Roanoke, and later ran into financial and legal problems. The Washington Post noted: "He was a partner in a failed Roanoke restaurant and disco. The business had $1 million in debts when it closed, and Mr. Garrison declared bankruptcy. His partner, left with the debt, conspired to kill him to recover $300,000 in insurance, a court later found.

In 1980, as a court-appointed attorney representing a bankrupt mobile home firm in Georgia, Garrison was indicted in a $46,000 theft from its trust. He was convicted and disbarred and served four months of a one-year sentence. (In 1993, the Virginia Supreme Court restored Garrison's law license).

In 1982 he publicly revealed that he was gay. Subsequently, he joined the Democratic Party and became active in party politics and in the gay rights movement, among other things, unsuccessfully campaigning for Virginia to repeal its anti-sodomy laws.

He was appointed in 2003 to the Virginia Council on Human Rights by Governor Mark R. Warner.