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. Extradited to the U.S. after a Guyana jury found him not guilty of murder, Larry was tried twice on four charges related to the shootings, including Conspiracy to Kill a Congressman. 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. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. Almost immediately, Jones ordered Layton to Jonestown. Traumatizing family rifts erupted on the spot, with mothers and fathers engaged in literal tug-of-wars over their children. Dick Dwyer, an embassy official, showed us a slideshow of his visit to Jonestown the previous Mayimages in which he and Jim Jones looked unnervingly chummy; images of tables filled with food, of joyful children on a swingset, of bountiful crops and an exuberant church session. I was kicked. Youll see what a wonderful place it is. He took us on a tour highlighting the most favorable aspects of the commune. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). We listened as she offered a detailed and disturbing account of her experience. Lawton gained notoriety for committing a string of jewelry store robberies along the Atlantic Seaboard prior to his arrest in 1996. View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Created by: Mike Added: 6 Apr 2021 "I felt we were doing something that had meaning. In Jonestown, nobody could have any family attachments. After that, she never stopped going back, Dr. Layton said. 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. 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. As I was lying seven miles away waiting for medical help, Sam Houstons granddaughters, Patricia and Judy, 14 and 15, were murdered, along with their mother, dozens of other would-be defectors and the rest of the Peoples Temple. 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. 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." TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. "The reason I did well," Layton says now, "is that I'm a little soldier and I follow orders so well.". "I was driving across the bridge," she says when asked why, after all these years, she wanted to revisit the horrors of Jonestown. ref: Benjy Esteves Jr Mark Consentino 94-95 Larry Layton 94-95 John McKaie 94-95 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. Education: Attended college in the area of San Francisco, CA. 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." One of the defectors wed interviewed claimed that Jones dyed them black. The robbers drew what police at the time believed were firearms, and restrained the store owner. [22] Fingerprint evidence connected Lawton to the October 1994 Palm Bay heist, and he was charged with that crime as well. He was acquitted after presenting a defense of brainwashing. Its hard to know when it became obvious that he was dead, or when I realized that others werent pretending. I'm so desperately tired. Jones responded by telling them that if any actions were taken to remove John, the entire Jonestown population would commit suicide. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The tumult of the late 60s and early 70s had left masses of people searching for a greater sense of security and purpose. Ryan invited members of the press and a few of the Concerned Relatives to join him. Her marriage was ruptured by Mr. Jopes even before it could be consummated. 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. Sam was far from the only person concerned about Jones malicious influence over a loved one. They all swore that Jonestown was the one and only place they could ever consider home. Deborah Layton is now 45, lives in an elegant house in Piedmont and takes her 12-year-old daughter to play in soccer games. 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. Repeatedly, the defectors mentioned forced participation in mass-suicide rehearsals known as the White Night trials.. Under the Federal parole system, a person sentenced to life in prison is not normally considered for parole until 10 years have been served. While the tathiiy was unique in its deep involvment with Mr. Jones, the story of the Laytons tells a great deal about why and how hundreds of other families became tangled in his persuasive web of religion mixed with social activism. [31] The DVDs contained condensed versions of Lawton's program and were 67 minutes long. His mother and father were cousins who had lived on adjoining estates, and in earlier generations the family's land, worked by slaves, had been prosperous. Anyone can read what you share. Deep inside me, I still have the demons of shame and guilt.". Never one to accept second-hand information, he decided to embark on a fact-findingand potentially life-savingtrip. How could I not like the good things they were doing?. I was even unaffected by the rice weevils and other strange bugs we ingested daily.". Left-right: Jim Schollaert, Jackie Speier and Congressman Leo Ryan. She carne back from that meeting in a state of shock, as if she had seen a ghost, her husband recalled. "If I hadn't been sent to Georgetown that day (in May)," Deborah Layton says now, "I would have died in Jonestown. They joined. Mrs. Layton moved out of their home on Labor Day 1979. 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. "They would be taken to the Jonestown well in the dark of night, hung upside down by a rope around their ankles, and dunked into the water again and again while someone hidden inside the well grabbed at them to scare them. But ladies and gentlemen, it is notLarry Layton. 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. Jim Jones would order more than 900 of his followers to commit suicide. Closing the Book on Case. 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. Later, Jones also became enamoured of the new Mrs. Layton and soon added her, too, to his growing harem of temple members. Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide. Ryan wanted to investigate. Until she was 20 years old, when she was denied admission to a university in Hamburg, Lisa Philips didn't know what it meant to be Jewish in Germany in 1935. Mr. Blakey survived the killings and suicides at Jonestown; he was on a boat owned by the commune at the time of the deaths. 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. American author, Youtuber and jewel thief, "Police hunt clues in Cannes jewelry heist; ex-jewel thief says it was a pro job", "Florida sheriff reintroduces chain gang", "Ex-jewel thief says of Kim K's purloined baubles: 'They're gone. The campaign succeeded in making it to the Oval Office, and seemed to be viable up until 20 January 2001, President Clintons last day in office, but Larrys name did not appear on the final list of pardons and commutations. He was cracking. In 1996, the family and friends of Larry launched a campaign for a presidential commutation. Leo Ryan wanted answers. At Penn State, still barely able to speak English, she met Laurence Layton, who was studying for a doctorate in biochemistry and needed a tutor in German. My list kept growingwhat started with two names was now more than 40. Don put it in his pocket and took a few more steps before carefully unfolding it. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [39] Other issues he is concerned with include prison conditions as well as post-release debt loads and their influence on unemployed ex-convicts. I wanted to leave my daughter a legacy that wasn't that simple.". 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. Jones then gave Layton permission to remarry a woman named Karen Tow. John Ford. 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. [21] Lawton was arrested by the FBI on December 2, 1996, in Florida and charged with the Fairless Hills armed robbery. Larry Layton, who posed as a defector, was captured after badly wounding two people inside a plane trying to take off. Reassured that they were on their way, we parked ourselves at a few picnic tables in the far corner of the pavilion area. In 1972, Mr. Jones married Deborah Layton and Philip Blakey. Lawton filed a lawsuit against the prison and staff alleging that they violated his rights. When we touched down in Georgetown, a U.S. Air Force medevac plane was waiting. ADDRESSES: Home Berkeley, CA. Dr. Layton recalls that his wife began to resist his sexual advances and, when he protested, offered to move out. In fact, I would have been on that truck, with a rifle. I heard screams and the rapid pounding of gunfire. Larry Layton Net Worth is $14 Million. 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. 'I was a fool to leave California, but then I was a fool long before that,' he said. I had read the articles and listened to hours of testimony. Among them were George Moscone, who the Peoples Temple played a significant role in electing mayor in 1975, and Harvey Milk, the pioneering openly gay city supervisor, who went so far as to write a letter to President Jimmy Carter extolling Joness work and rebutting charges that he was abusive. 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. Dr. Layton was from a world substantially different from the aristocratic one of his bride. Judge Peckham imposed the same five-year parole date on those counts. [10] Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery. 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. LOS ANGELES, Dec. 3 Her name was Lisa Philips and she was so beautiful that friends said she looked like Hedy Lamarr. [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. Jim Jones had taken my place. Larry Layton was the only person prosecuted for any of the events in and around Jonestown. See also [ edit] Jim Jones He told you precisely what was on his mind, no matter who you were or whether or not you wanted to hear it. It was utter pandemonium. 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. Biography Mini Bio (1) Larry Layton is known for Viva (2007) and Escape to Grizzly Mountain (2000). ", "Every week we're promised death, a relief from this miserable life. ref: Sparkle Lee Larry Layton 40-36 Tony Lundy 40-36 Lindsey Page 40-35 2020-01-10: Alicia Napoleon Espinosa: L-UD. But finally her cancer became so advanced that It was necessary for surgeons to remove a lung. [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. His first encounter with organized crime was through his father, a metal worker who delivered bribes to the New York mafia. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. 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. Elin Cederroos: Ocean Resort Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. One night, when Mr. Jones was conducting an hourslong lecture to the commune, she arranged to be placed on duty helping to operate a shortwave radio that transmitted Mr. Jones's directives to cult members in San Francisco. [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. Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. In Jonestown Only one man, Temple member Larry Layton, was tried in the United States for his involvement in the November 18 events. [28], After release he went to Palm Bay, Florida and started LL Research and Consulting and met a business partner. '', ''In a sense,'' he said, ''it would be easy to transfer the responsibility of Jones and put it on Larry Layton.'' 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. They had passed. Jim Jones led 912 followers in a ritual of murders and suicides. Individually, their insistence would have been hard to question. [10] He also founded the Reality Check program which aims to show teens the consequences of a criminal life. He treasured it. 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