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. "I was ready to be overwhelmed by emotion," she says, "but when we got into the area, it just wasn't there. Born in Crete, Indiana, in 1931, Jim Jones grew up an outcast and underdog, and was fixated on being recognized as someone greater. 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. During my freshman year at UC Davis, when I told him about my major, he offered encouragement: If you really want to learn about political science, you should come and intern in my office. I did, and over the years, worked my way up from volunteer to intern to staffer to senior aide, just as he climbed from the state Assembly to the U.S. Congress. And he assigned two of his staff members to come along: Jim Schollaert and me. #3 Journalists and Defector Killed Mr. Layton was the only person charged in the United States with criminal acts arising from the events of Nov. 18, 1978, when Mr. Ryan and a group of journalists and relatives of other cult members were ambushed at the Port Kaituma airstrip in the jungle near Jonestown. When people refer to the Jonestown massacre as a mass suicide, I am enraged. It made no sense that he would be trying to leave Jonestown. [28] In 2013, Lawton was made an honorary police officer by the Lake St. Louis, Missouri Police Department due to his work after prison. 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. 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. . 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.". After a few weeks, Layton grew "accustomed to the unusual smells in the food and drink. Jonestown: 13 Things You Should Know About Cult Mas. 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. 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." Jones died from a bullet to the brain. 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. Layton did so. 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.. They were issued four T-shirts, four pairs of socks, a toothbrush and toothpaste, four pairs of underwear and a bar of soap. Their courtship began in the spring of 1941, and theywere married in October. I did not feel confident this was a good idea. [15][18], In 1996, there was a robbery of a jeweler in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania. Although some of Joness most zealous followers may have consumed the poison voluntarily, the vast majority were murdered outright and against their will. She mentioned a Bay Area couple, the Stoens, who had defected and were fighting for the return of their young son, John. Everybody bolted in different directions. ''Why not pin this on Larry Layton, then close the book and not look at the hard questions of why Leo Ryan and all those Americans died?'' Larry Layton Biography It looks like we don't have any Biography for Larry Layton yet. Mr. Ryan, three journalists and a cult defector were killed and 11 others were wounded. ", Looking back on it 20 years later, she says, "I put everything in denial and locked it down. We worked quickly to locate and speak to the individuals whose families had contacted our office and had been campaigning for their return. Somehow, through the encroaching darkness of my final thoughts, I saw my 87-year-old Grandma Emma. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. His family, too, had had great wealth. 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. As a temple member, Mrs. Layton separated from her husband and was said to have contributed $250,000 in family assets to the cult. It was to be the secret of her life. Education: Attended college in the area of San Francisco, CA. [31] The DVDs contained condensed versions of Lawton's program and were 67 minutes long. Meanwhile, ex-devotees of the Peoples Temple began sharing stories about Jones darker side. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The defense attorney urged jurors to consider conditions at Jonestown and their impact on Mr. Layton. . But finally her cancer became so advanced that It was necessary for surgeons to remove a lung. In 1965, after riots shook Watts, an African-American neighborhood in Los Angeles, Ryan briefly took a job there as a substitute teacher while serving in the state Assembly, and used the experience to shape education policy. Deborah said that before her escape she had obtained a bottle of wine and taken it to the commune against Mr. Jones's rules. To the tarmac. All I could think was I am not going to make Grandma live through my funeral. [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 barely got a wink of sleep. Anyone can read what you share. ", She blithely ignored the warning signs -- the fake "cancer healings" and the increasingly hostile confrontations, when Jones would scream at members of his flock for faintly perceived faults or have them paddled harshly with the "board of education.". well, it wasn't there. [11] He then began robbing jewelry stores along the Atlantic Coast,[3] using his contacts within the Gambino crime family to fence the stolen merchandise. Subsequently, he said, she urged him to have an affair. Anyone can read what you share. Her brother, Larry, later became the only person ever charged in connection with the airstrip massacre and, after two . Larry Layton can be an professional, known for Get away to Grizzly Hill (2000) and Viva . But Layton, saying he wishes he could ease the pain. He is serving a life sentence in the federal prison at Lompoc. She got on the plane, leaving her mother behind. 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. By Katherine Bishop, Special To the New York Times. Whatever impelled me to send in the card changed the course of my life. [10] Afterwards, another jewelry store in Lower Bucks County became suspicious of a person they believed was casing the place for a future robbery. Under the Federal parole system, a person sentenced to life in prison is not normally considered for parole until 10 years have been served. It looked staged. We saw an impressive community with dozens of pathways, cabins, a medical center, a little school, and a large pavilion where the members congregated regularly. 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. In San Francisco, his church was lauded for its social programs, and Jones efforts to feed the poor and fight segregation found receptive ears with progressive politicians. But Lisa escaped from Hamburg, and in 1938, stunned by the antiSemitism she had seen, she arrived in New York with a determination never to reveal to anyone that she was Jewish. 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. Deborah watched at close hand her brother's mental deterioration under Mr. Jones's oppressiveness: Larry had been very hung upon Carolyn, he loved her, and Jim took her away from him and gave him Karen, but then he took Karen away, too. Ryan did not look or behave like your typical politician. ", 20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors, LAYTON01/B/20OCT98/MN/SLF ---Deborah Layton is a survivor of Jonestown. We landed in Georgetown, Guyanas capital, on November 14, 1978. Her marriage was ruptured by Mr. Jopes even before it could be consummated. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Getting Started | Contributor Zone Contribute to This Page Edit page Larry Layton Personal Details Contact Info They were cal culated to make you feel someone has to pay. But I was one of very few women who held senior staff positions in Congress at the time, and I was concerned that if I gave in to my reluctance and let a male colleague go in my place, Id be setting back women in politics. | AP. Months previously, her husband had begun noticing that money and family possessions were dis appearing from the household. 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. They visited her brother in Ukiah, listened to Mr. Jones's teachingswhich in many ways paralleled those of the Quakers and before long even Mr. Blakey's mother had flown from England to join the People's Temple for a short while. We accompanied Assemblyman Ryan to shopping centers and campaign events to pass out pamphlets and speak with voters. Debbie stood in line to drink the red liquid that she was told would kill her in a matter of minutes. [41], In 2017, he appeared in a middle school in Havelock, North Carolina to explain his prison experiences. 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. In June, she filed an affidavit with the State Department detailing the horrors in Jonestown, but got no response. Youll see what a wonderful place it is. He took us on a tour highlighting the most favorable aspects of the commune. Later, after being barred from the university as a Jew, Lisa took training as physical therapist, which was permitted by the Nazis. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. [29][13] The program is four hours long. In May 1978, she was sent by Jones to Georgetown to chaperone some Temple children on a cultural exchange. 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. 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. There is abundant evidence that Mr. Jones used such tactics to divide families and break up marriages. [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. 'A Tremendous Amount of Guilt'. He said the accusation probably been inspired by Mr. Jones as part of a systematic effort to break up families in the church. 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. Mr. Jones also apparently widened the rift between Larry Layton and his father. [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. The cover of a Jonestown promotional booklet from 1978. His suggestion that I would learn far more from first-hand experience was in step with the way he approached politics. 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. All of those people I had been standing beside, speaking to, sharing a cabin with. Dr. Layton recalls that his wife began to resist his sexual advances and, when he protested, offered to move out. White Night!" Behind his dim glasses, Jones preached love and equality while manipulating his followerstaking their property and having them sign over their paychecks and Social Security. Layton grew up in an affluent Berkeley family. Five bullets had ripped through me, devastating the right side of my body. 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. Debbie said the couple had gone to court to try to compel the Guyanese government to intervene; Rev. That was the last moment I remember with any real clarity before I surrendered my body to the medical staff. [30] In 2009, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office spent $4500 on 500 DVDs from the Reality Check program. Mrs. Layton's daughter, Deborah, joined the cult five years ago. 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. One of the defectors wed interviewed claimed that Jones dyed them black. Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple. "I felt we were doing something that had meaning. He had on a big yellow poncho, and his eyes were set in a sullen glare. And, I thought of them like Mormons. Jones greeted us at the compound. Traumatizing family rifts erupted on the spot, with mothers and fathers engaged in literal tug-of-wars over their children. It was nothing of the kind. In fact, I would have been on that truck, with a rifle. Over the next decade, Jones moved his congregation and changed its name several times before settling on Peoples Temple around 1964. Mr. Jones repeatedly sent word to her that he could cure her from Guyana, and she waited for his efforts to work. In Congress, he joined a March 1978 Greenpeace mission to investigate the slaughter of baby seals in Newfoundland, Canada. "[2] He was critical of Brevard County stopping letters to inmates in 2013. Dr. Layton was from a world substantially different from the aristocratic one of his bride. Layton's mother, who came from a wealthy family, divorced her husband and donated $300,000 to Jones' cause. 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.. , speaking to, sharing a cabin with denial and locked it down quickly locate. 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