ROANOKE, Va., June 5 Samuel A. Garrison III, a congressional lawyer who argued against the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, has died in Virginia at age 65.Garrison, the chief Republican counsel to the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation in 1974, died of leukemia May 27, The New York Times reported.He was chosen to replace the former counsel, Albert Jenner, who had recommended Nixon's impeachment.Nixon resigned after the House committee passed three articles of impeachment.Before working for the House of Representatives, Garrison was a state prosecutor and a liaison to Congress for Vice President Spiro Agnew.After Nixon's resignation, Garrison practiced law in Roanoke, Va., and spent four months in prison for embezzling $46,000 from a mobile home company he represented.Garrison later announced he was gay and became active in gay rights issues, the Times reported.Copyright 2007 by UPI
