In the summer of 1977, after an expose of Peoples Temple in New West magazine, Jones and his followers fled to Guyana. He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. One of the defectors wed interviewed claimed that Jones dyed them black. The defense attorney urged jurors to consider conditions at Jonestown and their impact on Mr. Layton. | AP. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. It was an implausible ending for the fiery preacher, who had curried favor among the fashionable elite of the Democratic Party. 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. I was feet away from Jones, close enough to hear him trying to convince people to change their minds. I was even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested daily.". With its bell-ringing calls for social justice -- this was in the fractious 1960s and early '70s -- the little-known church near Ukiah catered to the closet revolutionary in Deborah Layton. And, I thought of them like Mormons. [7] In grades one through six, Lawton served as an altar boy at St. Francis de Chantal in The Bronx,[8] where he was sexually abused by a Catholic priest. Larry Layton Biography It looks like we don't have any Biography for Larry Layton yet. And then I realized that confirming one tiny detail could mean that the worst of the testimonies were true. The months passed, and suddenly I finished a book and looked up, and no one was here., I walked up and down the street and looked at the stars and, wondered what I had done wrong, I think she felt was not as affectionate as I might have been, he said. Later, after being barred from the university as a Jew, Lisa took training as physical therapist, which was permitted by the Nazis. He'd work you so hard you didn't have time to complain, and he'd blackmail you; he destroyed marriages and humiliated you.. Not long after she left, her parents were rounded up with other Jews and placed on a train to a death camp. Like all of the tracks in the United States, it closed during the World War II years (1941-1945) and re-opened in 1946. Mrs. Layton was convinced the man had been cured by Mr. Jones, who is known to have faked such cures by presenting chicken and cattle entrails as cancerous tissue he claimed to have removed. By that time, it was obvious that some of his disciples intended to leave. the attorney said. While asserting that Mr. Jones was ''primarily responsible'' for the killings at the airstrip, Federal District Judge Robert F. Peckham said Mr. Layton would be eligible for parole after five years. Larry, after graduating from Berkeley High School, enrolled at the University of California at Davis and soon was living with Carolyn Moore, a student whose father was a Protestant minister in Davis. He went, and pursued the destiny that brought him to trial in San Francisco. When cameras were rolling, he spoke of how he loved them and how there would always be a place for thembut those declarations would be followed by thinly veiled mutters about treason and liars. Mr . 1998-11-02 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- For a young woman of 17, flinging herself on the world after the cloistered atmosphere of an English boarding school, Peoples Temple seemed daring and exciting. Hurrying out of bed, Layton would race toward Jones "in my mud-caked boots, past the tin-roofed cabins, past the wooden outdoor showers where we're allowed our two-minute wash at the end of our 11-hour days in the field." Indescribable pain consumed me, leaving room only for a fleeting thought that I should pretend to be dead. My ribs were broken. Besides, when had a congressman ever been assassinated on foreign soil while on a congressional delegation trip? He was then returned to the United States and charged under a Federal statute against assassinating members of Congress and internationally protected people. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, about a dozen men leapt from the tractor, leveled their automatic weapons, and fast approached. The land later became the site of a large Union Carbide plant. Jackie Speier is a congresswoman representing Californias 14th congressional district, which includes San Francisco and the peninsula.Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing. Much later, Layton writes, she would find them "on the bookshelf in Father's house with the many other prescription drugs taken from Temple members.". 'Being in Peoples Temple wasn't always pleasant, but one had the feeling he was really doing something to advance society. Monica confirmed that she wanted to leave. Layton did so. Almost 22 hours after the ambush, I heard the groan of a planes enginefinally our escape had arrived. At Port Kaituma, while I ushered the defectors onto a plane, a large red tractor-trailer rumbled onto the airstrip. Individually, their insistence would have been hard to question. Her father, a wealthy banker in Hamburg, and her mother would be marched off at gunpoint to a train bound for a concentration camp. Her book "Seductive Poison" will be in bookstores in November. Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. '', See the article in its original context from. Layton was attracted to the Utopian principles of the temple and its multi-racial flock, living and working together under the guidance of Jones, a combination professed faith-healer and leftist political prophet. The first trial ended in a hung jury. His family, too, had had great wealth. [39] Other issues he is concerned with include prison conditions as well as post-release debt loads and their influence on unemployed ex-convicts. 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. ''It is not the proper forum for answering questions about Jonestown.'' [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. ", "I thought, what a waste. Mrs. Layton's daughter, Deborah, joined the cult five years ago. Inquisitive by nature, he was a proponent of experiential legislating, preferring to go out and experience issues firsthand before he decided what to do. [6][11] In 2010, Lawton filmed the pilot and sizzle reel for Lawton's Law, a reality show based on his work with at-risk youth. [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. Congressman Ryan assured me that there was nothing to worry about. But Dr. Layton denied strongly in a separate interview that he had ever been antiSemitic. In 1978, I went to Guyana on a fact-finding mission. Chief among my concerns was how cozy Jones appeared to be with members of the embassy: How could any Jonestown resident feel safe reporting an injustice to a U.S. official who is arm in arm with Jim Jones in every image? Under the Federal parole system, a person sentenced to life in prison is not normally considered for parole until 10 years have been served. Initially she was allowed to recuperate in a cabin of her own, but later she was moved into a crowded dormitorystyle cabin with other elderly women. Jones responded by telling them that if any actions were taken to remove John, the entire Jonestown population would commit suicide. 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. (It was the 60s.) That same year, Congressman Ryan read a newspaper article about a constituent of his named Sam Houston, whose son had been a member of Jim Jones Peoples Temple and, in 1976, died under suspicious circumstances after having a phone conversation in which he confessed to wanting to leave the group. Jim Jones with a group of children living at Jonestown, circa 1978. I did not recover my old self; bullets render that impossible. But listening to one after the other after the other say the same choreographed thing made me uneasy. [42][13], Lawton has made many media appearances. Meanwhile, Dr. Layton said, A difficult new field of science in molecular biology was opening, and he began to spend more and more time studying it. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. This time, it was not a drill. Dr. Layton was from a world substantially different from the aristocratic one of his bride. Later, Jones also became enamoured of the new Mrs. Layton and soon added her, too, to his growing harem of temple members. 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. But her childhood, she said later, was not a happy one. In addition, Mr. Layton was convicted of aiding and abetting the murder of Mr. Ryan and the attempted murder of Mr. Dwyer. It was utter pandemonium. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a. Jim Jones. Larry Layton, Quaker and pacifist, entered the Peoples Temple in 1968 to join the march to social justice as charted by the temple's mesmerizing leader, the Rev. Layton's mother, who came from a wealthy family, divorced her husband and donated $300,000 to Jones' cause. [26] He was incarcerated in many prisons during his sentence, which included Jesup in Georgia, Riker's Island in New York, Edgefield in South Carolina, and Yazoo City in Mississippi. Layton joined the temple in the summer of 1968 at Redwood Valley, Calif., near the town of Ukiah, after his wife, Carolyn, became interested in the social philosophy of Jones, preaching from his wooded compound. Anyone can read what you share. Ryan was gunned down by a band of temple members intent on stopping the visitors from leaving and reporting the doings of the cult to the outside world. Jones died from a bullet to the brain. The temple sent Layton to school for training as an X-ray technician. Jim Jones, and 912 of his followers died by poison and gunfire in mass killings and suicides. They had passed. [30][33] He was the first ex-con to ever become an honorary police officer. He genuinely believed that he had some sort of protective shield around him, despite the fact that we werent traveling with any military escort or protection. As I took down their names, I looked over at Don Harris, who was interviewing Jones. [1][2], In 2007, he started the Reality Check Program to help educate at-risk youths on the consequences of breaking the law. ''I feel a tremendous amount of guilt and remorse for the events that happened,'' he said. Deborah Layton is now 45, lives in an elegant house in Piedmont and takes her 12-year-old daughter to play in soccer games. The news at the time and the history lessons to follow usually fail to mention that a number of Peoples Temple members were shot, several of whom were in the field between the pavilion and the jungle, clearly trying to escape the massacre. Her mother's cancer pain medications were taken away. 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. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. Don hung back for a moment before approaching Congressman Ryan and me at the picnic table and surreptitiously passing along the note. John Ford. From her childhood, friends said, Mrs. Layton had carried a deep fear of cancer. Reassured that they were on their way, we parked ourselves at a few picnic tables in the far corner of the pavilion area. One, Karen Layton, died in the carnage at Jonestown. Ryan did not look or behave like your typical politician. Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. A short time later, Larry married his second wife, Karen,whom Dr. Layton would come to know as a loving, sweet person.. 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. As I was transferred onto a gurney, I was conscious enough to look up and see a big, gleaming white plane with The United States of America written on the side. 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. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. It was impossible to cope with the pain. ", 20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF ---Deborah Layton is a survivor of Jonestown. She said that she knew that to do so would endanger her mother and brother because Mr. Jones kept dissident members in line by holding relatives hostage. Secretly, she offered her mother a glass of the wine. He is bewildered at how it all happened, groping for an explanation of what he called a Greek tragedy.. January 15, 2007. 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