Jim Jones led 912 followers in a ritual of murders and suicides. Ryan joined us for the trekone of roughly two dozen of us crammed in the bed of the truck, with dozens of would-be defectors left behind, belongings packed, waiting to escape. Lisa Layton was the next member of the family to join the cult. 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. '', ''In a sense,'' he said, ''it would be easy to transfer the responsibility of Jones and put it on Larry Layton.'' Mr. Layton was also convicted of conspiracy in the attempted murder of Richard C. Dwyer, the deputy chief of the United States mission to Guyana, who was among those wounded at the airstrip. It did not sit well with me. But, she said, I had to tell somebody what was happening in Jonestown. I was feet away from Jones, close enough to hear him trying to convince people to change their minds. [3], Lawton was offered a three-year sentence in exchange for disclosing his accomplices but did not take the deal. I heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire. While trying to keep the peace, he had been attacked with a knife. Not a single person we spoke to expressed a desire to leave, not even those whose family members had flown all the way to Guyana. Be the first to contribute! Mr. Jones, they said, could cure cancer. The hospital was not far from the People's Temple community Mr. Jones had established in Redwood Valley. But Layton, saying he wishes he could ease the pain. If there is such a thing as a spirit or essence of people . He said the trial was not the place to examine the deaths of 913 people at the cult's settlement in Jonestown, Guyana. [10] Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery. (CHRONICLE PHOTO BY SUSANNA FROHMAN), Restaurant chain slated to close site at Bay Area mall, One of the largest movie theaters in SF to close permanently, Grapevine closed indefinitely due to heavy snow and ice, Plan to bring bullet train from LA to Vegas is underway, 'Zero visibility' conditions: All roads to Tahoe are closed, What it looks like inside Coit Towers former apartment, Graupel falls on Disneyland, shocks guests, Avalanche slams into Tahoe apartment building amid blizzard, Hundreds of thousands of workers have abandoned downtown SF, Tahoe's snowfall totals are on track to break records, Report: Matthew McConaughey has a massive Salesforce paycheck, Popular yet divisive fast food chain coming to this Bay Area town. I barely got a wink of sleep. In a book written by his brother, Thomas, after Ryan's death, Larry is quoted as saying he believed in the goals of the community, even though life was not always Utopian. I felt my stomach knot. "[10], Lawton also founded the Reality Check Foundation, which is a 501(C)(3) charity that includes a mentoring program, and an annual golf outing. Mr. Layton was also sentenced to three concurrent terms of 15 years each in related charges of conspiring to kill Mr. Ryan and in the attempted murder of a United States diplomat in the same incident. ADDRESSES: Home Berkeley, CA. [15][18] Local police believed there was a connection between this robbery and a robbery that took place in May 1994 in Daytona Beach, and contacted the FBI. Jackie Speier manages a smile as she is wheeled on a stretcher at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Nov. 20, 1978. After over twenty years in prison, Larry Layton was released on parole in 2002, largely due to the testimony of Vernon Gosney, one of the few survivors of the massacre, and the Federal Chief Judge, Robert F. Peckham. Of the more than 900 members of Joness congregation who had moved there, nearly a third were children. After spending 18 years in Guyana jails and U.S. federal prisons, Larry Layton, the only man convicted on criminal charges arising from the events of November 18, 1978, was released in April 2002. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. Larry, sister Debbie and their mother, Lisa, all joined the temple while it was located in California. The two store owners were bound while two individuals robbed the store and a third acted as a lookout and the other as the getaway driver. He is bewildered at how it all happened, groping for an explanation of what he called a Greek tragedy.. Her mother, on discovering that her husband was having an affair with Lisa's English governess, gave Lisa a detailed account of it and threatened to commit suicide. He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. By all accounts, Layton was on a small plane about to leave Jonestown when the plot to kill Ryan was set in motion. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. . LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 Her name was Lisa Philips and she was so beautiful that friends said she looked like Hedy Lamarr. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, about a dozen men leapt from the tractor, leveled their automatic weapons, and fast approached. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a. I'm so desperately tired. Sure enough, I could tell he had. He. [30][33] He was the first ex-con to ever become an honorary police officer. Larry's parole came two years earlier than his previously-scheduled release date of April 2004. Deborah nursed her mother and tried to conceal that a physician had told her the cancer was fatal. 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. He said the accusation probably been inspired by Mr. Jones as part of a systematic effort to break up families in the church. He said that some of the recipients could be innocent. She died of cancer in Guyana three weeks before the death ritual. That was the last moment I remember with any real clarity before I surrendered my body to the medical staff. The shootings took place on one of the airplanes which were to take the party of Congressman Leo Ryan to Georgetown after his visit to Jonestown. 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. In 1996, the family and friends of Larry launched a campaign for a presidential commutation. From her childhood, friends said, Mrs. Layton had carried a deep fear of cancer. See the article in its original context from. Mr. Layton, who was arrested at the airstrip, was initially tried in Guyana, a small country on the northern coast of South America, on charges of attempted murder against two cult defectors in the airport ambush. . bout wiki. He was then returned to the United States and charged under a Federal statute against assassinating members of Congress and internationally protected people. We accompanied Assemblyman Ryan to shopping centers and campaign events to pass out pamphlets and speak with voters. Charismatic and tall with salt-and-pepper hair, he commanded a room. It was imminently clear Jonestown was a hierarchical community, with the power structure resembling some sort of plantation: the majority of the Temple members were black, while the leadership was almost exclusively white. But this particular morning, Jones told his followers that they had to kill themselves to keep from being tortured by mercenaries who were preparing an ambush. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. ", 20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF ---Deborah Layton is a survivor of Jonestown. By the following year, Jones was making a reputation for himself in. I admired Ryans worthy missions, but questioned if I shared his bottomless capacity to bear witness. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. [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. Mr . Under the Federal parole system, a person sentenced to life in prison is not normally considered for parole until 10 years have been served. None of the Temple members showed any interest in receiving correspondence from home. ", "Every week we're promised death, a relief from this miserable life. By that time, darker elements had seeped into Jones sermons. The land later became the site of a large Union Carbide plant. Reassured that they were on their way, we parked ourselves at a few picnic tables in the far corner of the pavilion area. [8], In 2019, he made a video with Vanity Fair where he analyzed fictional robberies from films such as The Italian Job and Heat. Asserting that the Government wanted to make Mr. Layton a scapegoat for the Jonestown massacre, he said, ''From the State Department point of view, from the U.S. Embassy point of view, the whole matter would be easily resolved if you blamed Larry Layton.'' [10] He was sentenced for racketeering and robbery and spent 11 years in prison before being released in 2007. According to trial testimony, as the attack began, Layton pulled a gun inside the plane and wounded two temple defectors. Congressman Ryans body was probably 15 feet away. Judge Peckham also set April 21 for a hearing on a motion for a new trial filed by Mr. Layton's new defense attorney, Robert R. Bryan. [25] He received an additional sentence in 2002 for giving false witness. Tony Tamburello, the defense attorney, told jurors in his closing arguments that the prosecutors had sensationalized the case against Mr. Layton in the three-week trial in Federal District Court. In 1978, I went to Guyana on a fact-finding mission. 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