Jones became enamoured with Carolyn Layton and told Larry he wanted her for his own. [25], Law enforcement officials and judges have supported the program. The land later became the site of a large Union Carbide plant. With Joness wild gaze on us, I tape-recorded affidavits of their wishes to return to the United States. From her childhood, friends said, Mrs. Layton had carried a deep fear of cancer. Deborah nursed her mother and tried to conceal that a physician had told her the cancer was fatal. I grew up with the Bible and the Puritan work ethic, he recalled in an interview. Mr. Jones's cult included, at ohe time or another, six members of the Layton family. Her involvement in the cult, he said, was useful activity, taking care of poor people; she said so much that she looked down at wealth and had guilt feelings, and Jim Jones helped her get rid of them. In 1970, as chairman of a committee overseeing prison reform, he assumed a pseudonym and had himself booked, strip-searched and incarcerated for 10 days at Folsom State Prison, revealing his. "And I thought, if I get hit by a truck, my epitaph will be, 'Jonestown survivor dies on Bay Bridge.' Her mother's cancer pain medications were taken away. well, it wasn't there. 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We worked quickly to locate and speak to the individuals whose families had contacted our office and had been campaigning for their return. 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." 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. Five bullets hit me from point-blank range, piercing my right arm, leg, and back. Layton's mother, Lisa, had died of cancer 10 days before the mass suicide. Mr. Tamburello accused prosecutors of going too far in describing the ambush on the Ryan party, which went to Guyana to investigate assertions that some members of the cult were being mistreated and were being held in Guyana against their wills. But it was the testimony of Vern Gosney, one of Larrys shooting victims at the Port Kaituma airstrip, who traveled from Hawaii for the sole purpose of attending the hearing and who delivered the most impassioned plea for Larrys release, that apparently made the difference. [28] In 2013, Lawton was made an honorary police officer by the Lake St. Louis, Missouri Police Department due to his work after prison. January 15, 2007. But, she said, I had to tell somebody what was happening in Jonestown. I was almost one of them. Suddenly, my body was crushed by a blow to my side. Mrs. Layton moved out of their home on Labor Day 1979. 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. Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Last May, while serving Mr. Jones as a trusted aide, she escaped from Jonestown and tried in vain to alert the world that he was preparing for a mass suicide in order to establish a place for himself in history. Besides, when had a congressman ever been assassinated on foreign soil while on a congressional delegation trip? They were cal culated to make you feel someone has to pay. -- the signal that meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill. Anyone can read what you share. Increasing numbers of people approached us. They had passed. Although some of Joness most zealous followers may have consumed the poison voluntarily, the vast majority were murdered outright and against their will. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 Her name was Lisa Philips and she was so beautiful that friends said she looked like Hedy Lamarr. And, I thought of them like Mormons. The article dissected Joness rise, revealing his practices of manipulation, public humiliation and fake faith healings, called out the Temples corrupt financial structure, and included ex-members testimonies of sexual assault and brutal beatings by Jones or at his command. The night before, our delegation watched Jones followers perform a show at their compound. Nearly 300 children were administered the poison, including a number of infants in the arms of their parents. They called it Jonestown. In the months leading up to the trip, my boss, Congressman Leo Ryan, had been contacted by worried constituents whose loved ones were members of a San Francisco-based religious group called the Peoples Temple, which had fled to South America for the promise of a utopian commune led by their preacher, Jim Jones. The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled. [10] High school students can use the time spent in the program towards the 75 hours of community service required for the Bright Futures Scholarship Program. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. ''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. Larry Layton, who had boarded the small Cessna aircraft began open firing on its occupants which wounded several of them before he was disarmed by one of the people inside. At both trials here the prosecution presented a confession signed by Mr. Layton in Guyana shortly after the killings, saying that he took ''full responsibility'' for the deaths at the airstrip but also saying, ''I don't know why I did it. Within minutes, Ryan and four others were shot dead. He said that some of the recipients could be innocent. Larry Layton Biography It looks like we don't have any Biography for Larry Layton yet. She had an extremely anxious demeanor, and we moved quickly as we went to her cabin to pack. I never played; I never learned how. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. She looks away for a moment, then brightens and starts to talk about a visit she made to Jonestown only a few months ago, accompanied by a crew from the Arts & Entertainment network, which is making a documentary on Peoples Temple. Somehow, through the encroaching darkness of my final thoughts, I saw my 87-year-old Grandma Emma. Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing. On the plane to Guyana, Nov. 18, 1978. There is abundant evidence that Mr. Jones used such tactics to divide families and break up marriages. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. She mentioned a Bay Area couple, the Stoens, who had defected and were fighting for the return of their young son, John. Philip Wogaman, President and Mrs. Clintons pastor in Washington, D.C. made additional pleas for commutation of Larrys sentence. 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." [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. 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. Layton became a senior insider in Jones' entourage. Other Peoples Temple. This site houses a variety of PDF documents. Her father, a talented violinist hated his father for making him go into banking rather than music. Mrs. Layton saw Mr. Jones strip Larry of two wives. Id come to Guyana as a congressional aide on a fact-finding mission. Layton, Deborah 1953- PERSONAL: Born in 1953, in Tooele, UT; daughter of Laurence Laird and Lisa Layton; married; children: Lauren. In 1969, to get her away from the drugs and other attractions in Berkeley, Dr. Layton and his wife decided to send Deborah to a Quaker school, Ackworth, in the countryside of Yorkshire, England. An eyewitness who escaped described how people who did not cooperate were injected with poison where they sat, or were held down and injected with poison.. A man followed him and slipped a folded piece of paper into his hand, then disappeared back into the crowd. I was beaten once a month. [15][18], In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. [1][2], In 2007, he started the Reality Check Program to help educate at-risk youths on the consequences of breaking the law. The motion contends that Mr. Layton should be given a new trial because his previous defense attorneys did not know and thus failed to inform him that he faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted on the count of aiding and abetting in Mr. Ryan's murder. I couldnt bear the vision of her sitting in front of my casket. [18], Lawton is believed to have hit around 20 to 25 jewelry stores,[11] stealing a self-estimated total of around $1518 million worth of high-value items, including watches, diamonds, and other gems. 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. The letters were presented during the hearing which resulted in a recommendation for Larrys release. To access these PDF files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. Ryan and I asked one or two Temple members at a time to come talk to us. Almost 22 hours after the ambush, I heard the groan of a planes enginefinally our escape had arrived. [37], Lawton is an advocate for prisoners and their rights, and comments on the justice system. [10][26] While recounting his prison experiences he said: "I saw inmates stabbed and friends die" and "I saw young men raped and pimped out as prostitutes for other inmates. 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. 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. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro I was even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested daily.". Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. Nearly 30 years later, her mother long dead in a rotting jungle outpost in Guyana, her brother doing life in a federal prison and her father so broken that he weeps at the mention of anything connected with Jones-, town, Deborah Layton has, as she put it the other day, "decided it was time to come out of the cobwebbed attic.". The U.S. trial was confined to the question of whether he plotted to kill Ryan and U.S. diplomat Richard Dwyer. Returning to the pavilion area, I sought out other anxious-looking members. We listened as she offered a detailed and disturbing account of her experience. In Ukiah, Layton's free will was already beginning to slip away, according to his lawyers. Later on, I decided I had to show them. [16] Then in October 1994, four individuals robbed a jewelry store in Palm Bay, Florida. I wanted to leave my daughter a legacy that wasn't that simple.". By the time I returned, more than 900 people died. She is known by many of her relationships - longtime lover of Jim Jones, mother of Jones' child Jim Jon (Kimo) Prokes, sister of Annie Moore, former wife of Larry Layton, former sister-in-law of Debby Layton - as well as the sometimes-mysterious roles she played within the Peoples Temple hierarchy. Before going to print, the editor of the magazine, who held some esteem for Jones, felt compelled to call him and read aloud the article before it went to press. The morning after our arrival, Congressman Ryan, Jim Schollaert and I attended a closed-door briefing by Ambassador John Burke and his staff at the U.S. Embassy. 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.'' Over the next decade, Jones moved his congregation and changed its name several times before settling on Peoples Temple around 1964. The hundreds of elderly were told that if they attempted escape, they would be left to die prolonged deaths alone in the depths of the jungle. 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. Her brother, Larry, later became the only person ever charged in connection with the airstrip massacre and, after two trials, was convicted in 1986 of conspiring to murder Ryan. Vernon Gosney and Monica Bagby, it read. 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. Larry Layton, a former member of the People's Temple, broke into tears today at his trial on charges of conspiring to commit murder as his attorney told jurors not to make him a scapegoat ''for the horror of Jonestown.''. My ribs were broken. When we touched down in Georgetown, a U.S. Air Force medevac plane was waiting. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. 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. ''You've heard graphic details about what happenened on the airstrip,'' he said. See also [ edit] Jim Jones [8][9] The 367-page book covers his early life, his string of crimes, and his post-release career. By Robert Lindsey Special to The New York Times. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, about a dozen men leapt from the tractor, leveled their automatic weapons, and fast approached. After Larry and Carolyn Layton joined the cult, Larry stopped writing to his parents and would not accept phone calls from them. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. Larry Layton, who posed as a defector, was captured after badly wounding two people inside a plane trying to take off. Their courtship began in the spring of 1941, and theywere married in October. In 1973, when Larry and Deborah Layton and their spouses were living at the Ukiah temple, an acquaintance of Mrs. Layton thought he had cancer, and her children urged Mrs. Layton to bring him to Ukiah. [8][12] At one point, he purchased an Italian pizza restaurant in North Lauderdale, Florida, which he later burned down as part of an insurance fraud. He'd work you so hard you didn't have time to complain, and he'd blackmail you; he destroyed marriages and humiliated you.. We compiled similar testimonies from other defectors who corroborated Debbies reports of physical and sexual abuse, forced labor and captivity. Hours later at the Jonestown emcampment, Jones led the death rite of himself and his followers. Tom Layton, Larry's older brother, reported to his father that Larry had complained repeatedly of what a awful father the scientist had been. Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber. One, Karen Layton, died in the carnage at Jonestown. To the volatile flight home. He had engineered complete authoritycollecting members Social Security and disability checks, and determining when and how his disciples could communicate with their families. He attended Berkeley High School and was the editor of a campus newspaper called The Liberal. It was the final stop for a group that for nearly 10 years had fascinated and, in the end, horrified the Bay Area. Perhaps death is better than this.". 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. I was 28, lying on a dusty airplane runway in the Guyanese jungle, and dying. [13], In May 1994, three males robbed a jewelry store in Daytona Beach, Florida, netting $500,000 (nearly $950,000 in 2022)[14] worth of gold and diamonds. Lawton was critical of the move, saying that "[c]hain gangs send a bad message about [the US]." Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. In 1978, I went to Guyana on a fact-finding mission. They swallowed poison capsules in a suicide attempt and were removed, unconscious, from the train. I would be in the first group; Congressman Ryan insisted that he stay behind to make certain that every person who wanted to leave made it to Port Kaituma safely. Her book "Seductive Poison" will be in bookstores in November. 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. Lawrence Robert Lawton (born October 3, 1961) is an American ex-convict, author, paralegal, motivational speaker, and YouTuber. Her marriage was ruptured by Mr. Jopes even before it could be consummated. My list kept growingwhat started with two names was now more than 40. Mr. Ryan, three journalists and a cult defector were killed and 11 others were wounded. View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Created by: Mike Added: 6 Apr 2021 [7] Lawton attended Intermediate IS 192 and Lehman High School, but did not graduate. Later that night, Jones had another suicide exercise. After a while, Mrs. Layton began sleeping on the floor of their home in Berkeley and made her husband sell a Cadillac they owned. He had on a big yellow poncho, and his eyes were set in a sullen glare. So many people wanted to defect that we had to call Georgetown to request an extra plane. In the summer of 1977, after an expose of Peoples Temple in New West magazine, Jones and his followers fled to Guyana. 1978 CULT FIGURE GETS LIFE TERM IN CONGRESSMAN'S JUNGLE SLAYING, https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/04/us/1978-cult-figure-gets-life-term-in-congressman-s-jungle-slaying.html. She arrived in London at 16, was met by some cousins and got what she would later call the biggest surprise of her life: I discovered that I was Jewish.. I couldnt immediately identify the deafening sound that filled the air. Judge Peckham imposed the same five-year parole date on those counts. Twelve hours had passed as I lay, teetering on deaths precipice when a light turned on inside me: The simple fact that I knew I was dying was proof that I was, indeed, still alive. Initially discouraged, Larrys family pressed ahead with the petition for early release, collecting another 50 letters in support, including letters from former Temple members and critics, numerous religious leaders, and a former congressman. Larry Layton Net Worth is $14 Million. March 5, 1999. Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. Among them were Sams teenaged granddaughters. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. ''They were trying to deny the horror of Jonestown and the deception that they underwent,'' Mr. Tamburello said. The first trial ended in a hung jury. 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. As soon as it became clear that we would be bringing more than one or two defectors home with us, the communal faade cracked. As I shook his hand, I looked at his sideburns. Instead he proposed a better use of law enforcement resources would be to "help inmates with drug addiction. The next year, his church relocated to Redwood Valley, a small community in northern California. He said the trial was not the place to examine the deaths of 913 people at the cult's settlement in Jonestown, Guyana. Original release. Within a year, a few Jonestown defectors had managed to return to the Bay Areamost notably, Debbie Layton Blakey, whod been Jones trusted aide and worked as the Temples financial secretary. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. Larry Layton can be an professional, known for Get away to Grizzly Hill (2000) and Viva . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was found guilty of conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the murder of Ryan and the attempted murder of U.S. embassy official Richard Dwyer and was sentenced to Read More The daughter of Hugo and Anita Philips, Lisa Philips Layton was born in Germany in 1915 into a family that had engaged in banking for at least 200 years. Layton, 35, emerged as the only defendant alive and available for prosecution in the government's attempt to exact justice from the Jonestown horrors. This time, it was not a drill. The spellbinding preacher had a message that attracted many disaffected people of the 1960's, and soon Carolyn had stirred her husband's sense of social activism and brought him into the group. I dont have any money to donate, but Id like to volunteer. [7] He became known as one of America's biggest jewel thieves and made the FBI's most wanted list in 1996. Jackie Speier manages a smile as she is wheeled on a stretcher at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Nov. 20, 1978. I just needed to hang on. 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. In 1972, Mr. Jones married Deborah Layton and Philip Blakey. Mrs. Layton divorced her husband in 1975 and their home on the Berkeley hilltop was sold. Ryan did not look or behave like your typical politician. At 16, Im not sure I understood what a state assemblyman did, but when my parents received a solicitation from Leo Ryans reelection campaign in 1966, I mailed back a note: Im in high school. He preached a social gospel, attracting devotees while promoting a community that did not discriminate or take into account race, background, or previous circumstances. [10] In 2012, Lawton self-published Gangster Redemption, an autobiography co-written with Peter Golenbock. 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. There is a sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day. 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. 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. "[10], While in prison in 2003, Lawton was sent to solitary confinement for 27 days as punishment. But finally her cancer became so advanced that It was necessary for surgeons to remove a lung. "[33] Lawton and the police chief later appeared before United States Congress in recognition of the program. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Please help us get out of Jonestown. Soon after, Don was approached by another member, who claimed that many Temple members desperately wanted to leave but were too terrified to come forward.
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