White Night!" 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. He was to use the skill when the flock made its planned migration to the Guyana settlement, which Jones already had picked out and named Jonestown. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a family that had helped settle Virginia 225 years earlier and claimed ancestors datmg from the Mayflower. To access these PDF files you must have the free Adobe Reader installed. That was the last moment I remember with any real clarity before I surrendered my body to the medical staff. Jones himself sat onstage in a throne beneath a sign that read: Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The members sang and danced and, by every appearance, were happy. Larry shot and wounded two people at the Port Kaituma airstrip on 18 November 1978, and he attempted to shoot a third. 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." Of the more than 900 members of Joness congregation who had moved there, nearly a third were children. Larry Layton had gotten onto the truck with us, which struck me as a glaring red flaghe was an entrenched member of the hierarchy, one of the true believers. Jones greeted us at the compound. He is the son of Lawrence L. Layton, a prominent biolgist at the University of California, and was raised in a cultural, intellectual atmosphere. ''I submit they were presented to inflame you, to arouse your passions, to prejudice you. And, I thought of them like Mormons. 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, who demanded that his flock call him Father, was one of the most politically powerful people in San Francisco, wined and dined by such luminaries as Rosalynn Carter, Assemblyman Willie Brown, Mayor George Moscone and Lieutenant Governor Mervyn Dymally. Jim could really get to people, Deborah recalled in an interview. 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. [7] Lawton attended Intermediate IS 192 and Lehman High School, but did not graduate. The night before, our delegation watched Jones followers perform a show at their compound. The petition for commutation filed with the Pardon Attorney in 1997 included 87 letters of support from former members of Peoples Temple, relatives of people who died in Jonestown, former prisoners and prison officials who knew Larry, scholars of religious studies and new religious movements, and members of the clergy. And he assigned two of his staff members to come along: Jim Schollaert and me. Her father, a wealthy banker in Hamburg, and her mother would be marched off at gunpoint to a train bound for a concentration camp. Is the Stanley Quencher tumbler worth its TikTok hype? 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. He was born in the mountains of West Virginia, between White Sulphur Springs and Charleston, to a. Be the first to contribute! The store owner managed to break free and grabbed a .38 caliber pistol and fired five shots at the robbers as they fled. [38][5][9] In 2013, the Brevard County Jail re-introduced chain gangs as a pilot project with the goal of deterring crime. There is a sickening recording of Jones coercing his followers that day. A second jury convicted Larry, although four jurors took what the trial judge called an unprecedented step of asking for leniency in Larrys sentencing. Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. 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 . At the end of the evening, Rep. Ryan walked onstage and thanked the group. The land later became the site of a large Union Carbide plant. A self-anointed minister, as a young man he started proselytizing outside a storefront church in Indianapolis, and by 1955, had formed the Wings of Deliverance church. The letters were presented during the hearing which resulted in a recommendation for Larrys release. Monica confirmed that she wanted to leave. What an evil thing that Jim Jones did. [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. 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. Peoples Temple follower Larry Layton, center, stands with police following his arrest in the shooting of two people, including California Congressman Leo Ryan, on a remote Guyana airstrip, Nov. 18, 1978. In the weeks leading up to the White House decision on the petition, a number of former congressmen and religious leaders including Rev. 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. [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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. Later that night, Jones had another suicide exercise. I asked to speak to Monica Bagby, one of the names on Dons note. In Jonestown, nobody could have any family attachments. It was nothing of the kind. At the compound, Don wandered off to smoke a cigarette. Jonestown was the agricultural compound Jones' followers carved out of the Guyanese jungle, 150 miles northwest of the nation's capital, Georgetown. I wanted to leave my daughter a legacy that wasn't that simple.". Join me, he assured his followers, and youll get health care, education and a family that would never mistreat you. Layton, Deborah 1953- PERSONAL: Born in 1953, in Tooele, UT; daughter of Laurence Laird and Lisa Layton; married; children: Lauren. ( 2007-01-15) [1] Jonestown: Paradise Lost is a 2007 documentary television film on the History Channel about the final days of Jonestown, the Peoples Temple, and Jim Jones. Not long after she left, her parents were rounded up with other Jews and placed on a train to a death camp. The "Greeting Committee" promptly confiscated all their clothes and belongings and, most important, their passports. "[10], While in prison in 2003, Lawton was sent to solitary confinement for 27 days as punishment. John Ford. [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's parole came two years earlier than his previously-scheduled release date of April 2004. He was cracking. After a while, Mrs. Layton began sleeping on the floor of their home in Berkeley and made her husband sell a Cadillac they owned. Don hung back for a moment before approaching Congressman Ryan and me at the picnic table and surreptitiously passing along the note. -- the signal that meant an attack was imminent, an excuse for conducting a suicide drill. In a cabin with about six women from the Temple, I took a top bunk, sweating as a downpour opened up outside. 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. Ever on the alert for malcontents, Jones would order recalcitrant Temple members -- those who questioned his authority -- into "The Box," a stifling underground cubicle the size of a coffin. Larrys parole came two years earlier than his previously-scheduled release date of April 2004. [28] Often he appears discussing crimes in the media as an expert on robberies. He preached a social gospel, attracting devotees while promoting a community that did not discriminate or take into account race, background, or previous circumstances. 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. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. . At one point, Congressman Ryan interrupted our tour to make sure that the press and Concerned Relatives had been given the transportation to join us. He went, and pursued the destiny that brought him to trial in San Francisco. In 1996, the family and friends of Larry launched a campaign for a presidential commutation. If there is such a thing as a spirit or essence of people . On the plane to Guyana, Nov. 18, 1978. [35][36] It also hosts an annual bowling tournament. We accompanied Assemblyman Ryan to shopping centers and campaign events to pass out pamphlets and speak with voters. The child talked her out of it. Philip Wogaman, President and Mrs. Clintons pastor in Washington, D.C. made additional pleas for commutation of Larrys sentence. The 35-year-old defendant is charged with conspiring to murder Representative Leo J. Ryan, the California Democrat who died Nov. 18, 1978, with three journalists and a temple defector in an ambush at an airstrip near Jonestown. It was an implausible ending for the fiery preacher, who had curried favor among the fashionable elite of the Democratic Party. In Congress, he joined a March 1978 Greenpeace mission to investigate the slaughter of baby seals in Newfoundland, Canada. "[33] Lawton and the police chief later appeared before United States Congress in recognition of the program. The next year, his church relocated to Redwood Valley, a small community in northern California. Traumatizing family rifts erupted on the spot, with mothers and fathers engaged in literal tug-of-wars over their children. He had engineered complete authoritycollecting members Social Security and disability checks, and determining when and how his disciples could communicate with their families. I was 28, lying on a dusty airplane runway in the Guyanese jungle, and dying. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. While he was never charged with shooting Mr. Ryan, the Government contended that Mr. Layton conspired with Mr. Jones and other cult members to kill the Congressman and others in his group to prevent them from returning to the United States with negative reports about Jonestown. Deep inside me, I still have the demons of shame and guilt.". They recovered and with the help of friends managed to reach Italy, later coming to the United States. Their accounts led to an expos in New West Magazine planned for publication in summer 1977. I had read the articles and listened to hours of testimony. 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. There was no movement, but I thought the others might also be playing dead. 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. His first encounter with organized crime was through his father, a metal worker who delivered bribes to the New York mafia. He had on a big yellow poncho, and his eyes were set in a sullen glare. Mr. Jones also apparently widened the rift between Larry Layton and his father. [28], After release he went to Palm Bay, Florida and started LL Research and Consulting and met a business partner. Their courtship began in the spring of 1941, and theywere married in October. 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. She carne back from that meeting in a state of shock, as if she had seen a ghost, her husband recalled. Excerpt from UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back by Jackie Speier, reprinted under a license arrangement originating with Amazon Publishing. "[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. Individually, their insistence would have been hard to question. January 15, 2007. She managed to contact her sister in Davis, who wired a ticket to Georgetown, where Layton and other Temple members were staying in a house the Temple owned. Mr. Layton believes that his wife gave Mr. Jones at least $250,000 and possibly more; he said she had some secret accounts of her own that apparently contained money from her father. 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. Dr. Layton was perplexed by his wife's behavior but began sleeping beside her on the floor. Sam was certain Jones had something to do with his sons death. Layton became a senior insider in Jones' entourage. 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. 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. I did not recover my old self; bullets render that impossible. [23][24] Lawton later said he was the biggest jewel thief of the 1980s and 90s operating within the United States of America. As he grew older, Dr. Layton gravitated from Methodism to Quakerism, a faith with roots in the Reformation whose tenets included nonviolence, racial and religious toleration, rigorous selfdiscipline, and love and good works for the needy. 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 treasured it. Her childhood playmates included cousins and friends from some of the bestknown families of Germany's Jewish aristocracy, such as the Berensons and Rothschilds. It was to be the secret of her life. ", 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.". Mrs. Layton saw Mr. Jones strip Larry of two wives. UNDAUNTED: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back, write a letter to President Jimmy Carter extolling Joness work, California's road to recovery runs through D.C. Republicans, Why New Jerseys ventilator guidelines may favor younger, whiter patients, Rhode Island ends specific restrictions on New Yorkers by making them national. 'A Tremendous Amount of Guilt'. With Joness wild gaze on us, I tape-recorded affidavits of their wishes to return to the United States. Politically, there was nothing to gainand everything to loseby taking on Jones, and there was no telling what hed do if confronted and challenged. He spent 12 years in prison, and once released, began a career as a motivational speaker, life coach, and author. A growing body of constituents known as the Concerned Relatives wrote Congressman Ryan with increasing alarm about their daughters or sons who had accompanied the charismatic demagogue to Guyana. In 1968, Carolyn Layton became the first member of the family to be enticed by Mr. Jones's diatribes against the rich, the Vietnam War, social injustice and racism. I couldnt immediately identify the deafening sound that filled the air. From her childhood, friends said, Mrs. Layton had carried a deep fear of cancer. As one of his top aides, I accompanied the delegation, venturing out on the ice floes where the clubbing took place. Mr. Layton's first trial ended in a mistrial on Sept. 26, 1981, when the jury was unable to reach a verdict on any of the counts. I felt my stomach knot. 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. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. It looked staged. Its leader, the Rev. For Larrys release worker who delivered bribes to the New York mafia days as punishment with the of. 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