Attorney pays two women to settle claims

Friday, April 1st 2005, 4:12 pm

By: News On 6

MUSKOGEE, Okla. (AP) _ A prominent attorney has paid two women $50,000 each to settle their sexual assault civil lawsuits against him, according to a complaint filed by the Oklahoma Bar Association.

The association is asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to punish attorney David Mitchell Garrett.

Garrett, 63, pleaded guilty last year to sexual battery on the two women. He received a one-year suspended sentence.

Both women said they were groped at Muskogee restaurants in the spring of 2003.

Garrett is known for his television and billboard ads for his personal injury law practice.

In his March 28 response to the Supreme Court, Garrett said he is an alcoholic but has been sober since four days after his arrest on the criminal charges.

He apologized to the women and said he wouldn't have addressed his disease unless the women had reported the incidents.

The Supreme Court has several options, including disbarring Garrett, suspending his law license, imposing lesser sanctions or exonerating him.