This was not a mass suicide. Youll see what a wonderful place it is. He took us on a tour highlighting the most favorable aspects of the commune. Lisa Layton was the next member of the family to join the cult. My recovery continuedthough that very word is not an accurate description of the aftermath of being shot. Ryan and I asked one or two Temple members at a time to come talk to us. ", Looking back on it 20 years later, she says, "I put everything in denial and locked it down. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Returning to the pavilion area, I sought out other anxious-looking members. But I was one of very few women who held senior staff positions in Congress at the time, and I was concerned that if I gave in to my reluctance and let a male colleague go in my place, Id be setting back women in politics. By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. Mr. Layton cried as his attorney described conditions at Jonestown and said that many prosecution witnesses must feel guilty for leaving loved ones behind to die. From her childhood, friends said, Mrs. Layton had carried a deep fear of cancer. Anyone running afoul of Jonestowns security detail was put in a labor camp and forced to clear jungle. In 2009 the Rockledge Florida police used the DVDs as part of a community policing project with the money to buy the DVDs procured through asset forfeiture. None of the Temple members showed any interest in receiving correspondence from home. Layton said the temple started out as a civil rights movement and he compared Jones to Martin Luther King Jr., but 'obviously things turned out differently,' he said. The suit was later dismissed. The robbers had been there the day before and returned asking about a ring. When the time of their supposed deaths came and went with everybody still alive, Jones announced it had just been a drill to test their loyalty. From what Ive seen, he said, there are a lot of people here who think this is the best thing that happened in their whole life. He was interrupted by manically enthusiastic cheering. I was an orphan and my grandfather didn't let me forget it; he wanted me to work hard; he didn't want to ruin me with praise; I was supposed to be humble. Perhaps death is better than this.". Increasing numbers of people approached us. He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author. Indescribable pain consumed me, leaving room only for a fleeting thought that I should pretend to be dead. It wasnt unusual for Temple members to be awakened at dawn over the loudspeaker and summoned to the pavilion for one of his increasingly unhinged sermons. Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple cult, was sentenced today to life in prison for aiding and abetting in the murder of Representative Leo J. Ryan at a jungle airstrip in Guyana in November 1978. I'm so desperately tired. It was impossible to cope with the pain. Earlier, United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello asked Judge Peckham to sentence the 40-year-old defendant to life in prison, serving a minimum of 20 years before being considered for parole. He knew that Jones had considerable political clout, with close ties to Democratic leaders in San Francisco, Sacramento, and even with the State Department. I was 28, lying on a dusty airplane runway in the Guyanese jungle, and dying. [27] Lawton says he regrets his time spent in prison, because he missed out on seeing his children grow up; his grandmother died, and his father became afflicted with Alzheimer's disease while he was inside. [11] He then began robbing jewelry stores along the Atlantic Coast,[3] using his contacts within the Gambino crime family to fence the stolen merchandise. Many hours before the plane came, somehow, word filtered in that after Jones had released his death squad to the airstrip, he had led more than 900 of his flock into his White Night of death. Five months later, on the night of November 18, 1978, Jones sent a gang of gunmen to an airstrip in Port Kaituma, where Representative Leo Ryan of San Mateo and a fact-finding party that had visited Jonestown were preparing to leave. As one of his top aides, I accompanied the delegation, venturing out on the ice floes where the clubbing took place. Politics: Liberal. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. To the stretchers. The early release culminated a six-year campaign during which members of his family worked with a core of supporters, first to petition then-President Clinton to commute Larrys sentence, then to convince the Parole Commission to modify its earlier decision on a release date. After graduating from the University of California campus at Davis in 1968 with a degree in social science, Layton and his wife moved to the Ukiah area and soon met up with the temple. Layton's mother, Lisa, had died of cancer 10 days before the mass suicide. Almost immediately, Jones ordered Layton to Jonestown. Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. [39] Other issues he is concerned with include prison conditions as well as post-release debt loads and their influence on unemployed ex-convicts. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. Clearing away those cobwebs meant writing a book -- it's called "Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple." In addition, Mr. Layton was convicted of aiding and abetting the murder of Mr. Ryan and the attempted murder of Mr. Dwyer. By Robert Lindsey Special to The New York Times. To the tarmac. They were issued four T-shirts, four pairs of socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, four pairs of underwear and a bar of soap. I was one of Larry's lead lawyers in his first U.S. trial in 1981, which resulted in an 11 to 1 vote for acquittal on faulty charges of conspiracy to kill the congressman. Lisa Layton's youngest son, Larry, is now under arrest in Guyana, accused of murdering Representative Leo J. Ryan and four other persons in the attack that eventually led Mr. Jones to order the mass deaths. Larry Layton was convicted in 1986 by a federal jury in San Francisco of conspiring in the 1978 murder of California congressman Leo Ryan and aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of Richard Dwyer, a U.S. diplomat wounded in the attack. Not long after she left, her parents were rounded up with other Jews and placed on a train to a death camp. ''It is not the proper forum for answering questions about Jonestown.'' Later, after being barred from the university as a Jew, Lisa took training as physical therapist, which was permitted by the Nazis. Layton complied, and Jones took Carolyn as his mistress. [23][34], However, the superintendent of student services at Brevard Public Schools declined to use the program, and questioned its effectiveness, claiming that "[w]hile the program is well-organized and well-intentioned, it does not follow the scientific evidence-based research guidelines. [37], Lawton is an advocate for prisoners and their rights, and comments on the justice system. Judge Peckham imposed the same five-year parole date on those counts. She had an extremely anxious demeanor, and we moved quickly as we went to her cabin to pack. As I scanned the hundreds of smiling faces, I never could have fathomed that within 24 hours, virtually every one of them would be dead. He is also charged with conspiring to harm Richard Dwyer, a United States diplomat who was wounded in the ambush. In some way, I think he was a substitute husband and father figure who filled all the needs that I failed to give.. Deep inside me, I still have the demons of shame and guilt.". I was kicked. After Jones moved to Jonestown, and with Layton still in California, Layton's sister, a power in the hierarchy of the temple, defected and began to tell of atrocities at the jungle agricultural project. I was one of Larry's lead lawyers in his first U.S. trial in 1981, which resulted in an 11 to 1 vote for acquittal on faulty charges of conspiracy to kill the congressman. Their daughter, after working briefly as a physical therapist in New York, went for graduate study as a therapist to Pennsylvania State University, where her uncle, Dr. Franck, was teaching. [21] Lawton was arrested by the FBI on December 2, 1996, in Florida and charged with the Fairless Hills armed robbery. The cover of a Jonestown promotional booklet from 1978. But, as interviews last week with family members and friends revealed, the Laytons slowly disintegrated under the pressures of family conflict, the disillusionment that gripped much of America during the 1960's, drug use, and the soothing, simplistic appeal of Mr. Jones. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. It was nothing of the kind. Jim Jones had taken my place. I wanted to leave my daughter a legacy that wasn't that simple.". When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. ref: Benjy Esteves Jr Mark Consentino 94-95 Larry Layton 94-95 John McKaie 94-95 The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, better known by its informal name "Jonestown", was a remote settlement in Guyana established by the Peoples Temple, a U.S.-based cult under the leadership of Jim Jones.Jonestown became internationally infamous when, on November 18, 1978, a total of 909 people died at the settlement, at the nearby airstrip in Port Kaituma, and at a Temple-run building in . #3 Journalists and Defector Killed Mr. Layton was the only person charged in the United States with criminal acts arising from the events of Nov. 18, 1978, when Mr. Ryan and a group of journalists and relatives of other cult members were ambushed at the Port Kaituma airstrip in the jungle near Jonestown. ", Crimes for which children went to the well included "stealing food from the kitchen, expressing homesickness, failing a socialism exam, or even natural childish rebelliousness.". [28] Often he appears discussing crimes in the media as an expert on robberies. 'I was a fool to leave California, but then I was a fool long before that,' he said. [10] He was sentenced for racketeering and robbery and spent 11 years in prison before being released in 2007. I just needed to hang on. Layton and her mother arrived in Jonestown in December 1977. Her marriage was ruptured by Mr. Jopes even before it could be consummated. His appearance was part of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. Jim Jones. By his own admission, Layton came of age in Berkeley, Calif., during the turmoil of student protests and the Vietnam war. Biography Mini Bio (1) Larry Layton is known for Viva (2007) and Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000). So many people wanted to defect that we had to call Georgetown to request an extra plane. Larry Howard Layton, 80, of Green Valley, AZ passed away December 10, 2020 from complications of COVID-19. Jones wove his way through the camp, repeating that he wasnt upset that they wanted to leave; it was just that they were doing it in the wrong way. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a. ''The story of Jonestown is really the story of a world gone mad. In fact, I would have been on that truck, with a rifle. It was to be the secret of her life. Family Tragedy: Hitler's Germany to Jones's Cult, https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/04/archives/family-tragedy-hitlers-germany-to-joness-cult-the-layton-familys.html. A bone shot out of my right arm, and a huge hunk of flesh had been blown off my thigh. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, about a dozen men leapt from the tractor, leveled their automatic weapons, and fast approached. Join me, he assured his followers, and youll get health care, education and a family that would never mistreat you. In the two years since, Jones and most of his followers had left the Bay Area and moved to Jones commune deep in the jungle of Guyana. Laurence Laird Layton, a distinguished scientist whose later life was devastated by his family's involvement with the Peoples Temple cult, died Wednesday in his Emeryville home. [10] Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery. The retrial was delayed for years because of complex appeals over the admissability of certain evidence excluded by Judge Peckham's rulings in the first trial. [38][5][9] In 2013, the Brevard County Jail re-introduced chain gangs as a pilot project with the goal of deterring crime. He attended Berkeley High School and was the editor of a campus newspaper called The Liberal. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? Also there was a strong feeling of community -- people of all races who really cared about each other.'. They had passed. I did not recover my old self; bullets render that impossible. Jones had become increasingly paranoid, convinced that the CIA, the FBI and the media were out to destroy him. . [15][18], In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. SAN FRANCISCO Larry Layton was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for his role in conspiring to murder Rep. Leo Ryan in Guyana in 1978. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. It paints a convincing picture of what it was like to spend seven years in the notorious cult, only to escape a few months before the tragedy that gave Jonestown its infamous place in history as the site of the largest mass suicide in modern times. Sam was certain Jones had something to do with his sons death. His following grew, and Jones became the leader of one of the first mixed-race churches in Indiana. Elin Cederroos: Ocean Resort Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. [8] Lawton later said that he used a BB gun during the robbery. Religion: "Raised as a Quaker." Hobbies and other interests: Theater, music, painting, gardening. Jones became active in local politics, giving money, running food programs and busing Temple members to attend rallies and get out the vote for his favored candidates. '', He said that Mr. Layton ''did not kill anybody'' at the airstrip, nor did he ''aid and abet or conspire to kill Leo Ryan.'' Bodies lay crumpled on the tarmac around me. ''Look at the poor diet, the loss of weight, the physical exhaustion, the desperation, the lingering illness and death of his mother and the fear of punishment and humiliation,'' he said. The bodies of Jones and 912 cult followers lay sprawled under the tropical trees of the commune, victims of an incredible murder-suicide rite. I was beaten once a month. He had engineered complete authoritycollecting members Social Security and disability checks, and determining when and how his disciples could communicate with their families. To the volatile flight home. The book describes the events that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana, where over 900 people lost their lives as the result of mass forced suicide, which constituted the largest loss of American civilian life (other than due to natural disasters or during the course of violence with Native Americans) in United States history until the events of In the mid and late 1960's, when Berkeley became the scene of frequently tumultuous antiwar demonstrations and other protests, Larry and Deborah Layton joined many of the demonstrations and began experimenting with drugs. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Getting Started | Contributor Zone Contribute to This Page Edit page Larry Layton Personal Details Contact Info [15] The robbers took $480,000 ($910,600.81 in 2022)[17] worth of gold and diamonds making it the biggest robbery in the city's history. Answer (1 of 2): Above: Jonestown Before The Massacre Larry Layton was the only "armed guard" at Jonestown at the time of the massacre to outlive November 18, 1978, when all but a few dozen of the roughly 1,000 residents of Jonestown perished. Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. A few Temple members stood in front of a rusty dump truck waiting to shuttle us to the compound. Her life appears to be light-years from Peoples Temple. They all swore that Jonestown was the one and only place they could ever consider home. After a while, Mrs. Layton began sleeping on the floor of their home in Berkeley and made her husband sell a Cadillac they owned. Five bullets hit me from point-blank range, piercing my right arm, leg, and back. | AP. [8], In 2019, he made a video with Vanity Fair where he analyzed fictional robberies from films such as The Italian Job and Heat. This time, it was not a drill. 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