Deaver in Hospital for Kidney Stones; Trial Delay Seen

Former presidential aide Michael K. Deaver was hospitalized over the weekend for treatment of acute pain from kidney stones, his lawyer and hospital officials said Sunday, and resumption of his perjury trial this week may be postponed.

Deaver “doubled over in pain Saturday night and was rushed to a hospital emergency room,” defense lawyer Randall Turk said.

Turk said an X-ray determined that Deaver was suffering from kidney stones, and he was immediately given morphine to relieve the pain.

Condition Called Good

Mike Marecki, a spokesman for Georgetown University Hospital, said Deaver was in good condition but “at the moment, Mr. Deaver’s physicians are unable to state the expected length of hospitalization.”

The kidney stone ailment surfaced following the first week of testimony in Deaver’s trial on charges that he lied to a congressional committee and a grand jury investigating his lobbying activities after he resigned as President Reagan’s deputy White House chief of staff.

Deaver suffered a kidney failure in early 1985 that forced him to miss Reagan’s second inauguration, which he organized.

The hospitalization could force a delay in resumption of the trial on Tuesday. There was no trial session scheduled today to accommodate other business being conducted by Herbert J. Miller Jr., chief defense lawyer.

Impaired Memory Claimed

The defense intends to make Deaver’s health an issue in the trial, contending that his treatment for alcoholism impaired his memory about key events on which he was questioned by a grand jury and a House subcommittee.

The defense says Deaver was testifying honestly when he said he could not recall contacting former Reagan Administration colleagues on behalf of his lobbying clients in 1985. The grand jury and the subcommittee were investigating allegations that Deaver violated federal conflict-of-interest laws in his lobbying.

Deaver was hospitalized for alcoholism treatment in June, 1985, shortly after he left the White House and again in the fall of 1986, five months after he gave his sworn testimony.

Turk said the kidney stone attack came suddenly, saying he was not aware of any health problem during the trial last week.