Meese Cancels Europe Trip in Attempt to Fill Vacancies

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, frustrated by his search for a new deputy to replace Arnold I. Burns, who resigned because of Meese’s legal problems, has canceled a two-day trip to London for a conference on international terrorism, a Justice Department source said Tuesday.

Meese said that he expects to hear today from John C. Shepherd, his second choice for the post, who has indicated that he may withdraw his name from consideration.

Burns’ resignation takes effect Friday, and his departure will leave the department without a No. 2 or 3 official and with no assistant attorney general for the key criminal division. Burns had asked to leave April 15, but Meese persuaded him to stay another week to facilitate Meese’s week-long mission to South America to bolster his anti-cocaine campaign.

Former Associate Atty. Gen. Stephen S. Trott left the No. 3 spot last week to join the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. William F. Weld, the former chief of the criminal division, announced his resignation at the same time as Burns and gave the same reason.

Awaits Senate Action

Francis A. Keating II, the assistant Treasury secretary who has been picked to succeed Trott, will not join the department in an acting capacity until his nomination is formally sent to the Senate, which will be in a matter of days, Terry Eastland, Meese’s chief spokesman, said.

Meese was to leave Thursday for the London conference. In his absence, Solicitor General Charles Fried, whose job ordinarily makes him the fourth-ranking official in the department, would have served as acting attorney general.

Fried has publicly indicated his lack of interest in managing the department, and Meese decided to remain in Washington to lead efforts to solve the vacancy problems left by the resignations.

Talking with reporters Tuesday about Shepherd’s apparent change of mind about taking the No. 2 job, Meese cited “the tremendous trauma and stress to his family because of all the publicity” over his selection.

Memberships Draw Criticism

Shepherd, a former American Bar Assn. president, drew criticism over his membership in a St. Louis country club that has no black members and a downtown social club with no women members.

Most upsetting to his wife, Justice Department sources said, was the revival of allegations by Denise Sinner, a former bookkeeper at Shepherd’s law firm, that he had had an affair with her.

Sinner was convicted of embezzling $147,000 from the law firm and unsuccessfully tried to defend herself by claiming that Shepherd had approved her writing the checks. Shepherd denied the allegations at her trial, where she was also convicted of making a false statement to prosecutors about having been diagnosed as having terminal cancer.

Assistants to Leave

Two more of Burns’ top assistants are expected to leave with him besides the two who had already said they would leave, and another is scheduled to become general counsel at the Federal Aviation Administration, department sources said.

When Burns announced his departure, Randy L. Levine and B. Boykin Rose said that they would leave with him. In addition, officials said Tuesday, Paul G. Cassell would leave to become an assistant U.S. attorney in Alexandria and Ray Ludwiszewski would also quit.

Gregory S. Walden, another main Burns aide, will leave in a few weeks to take the FAA post.