Layton Made Scapegoat, Defense Argues

Larry Layton is a scapegoat for everyone connected with the Peoples Temple mass deaths eight years ago and had no part in any conspiracy to kill a congressman, a lawyer for the former cult member said Wednesday.

Defense lawyer Tony Tamburello, in closing arguments, derided the prosecution’s case as “guilt by proximity.” He portrayed Layton in November, 1978, as a deluded follower of the Rev. Jim Jones. He said Layton was depressed over the recent death of his mother and unconnected to the Peoples Temple leadership or any murder plot by its founder.

‘Bizarre, Crazy’ Day

“Mr. Layton is not a man of violence,” Tamburello said. “It’s not part of his life. Nov. 18th was a day that was unique, bizarre, crazy.”

But U.S. Atty. Joseph Russoniello contended that Layton’s mild character made him perfect for the role Jones allegedly assigned him, which was to pose as a defector fleeing the cult’s compound and kill other defectors, while an ambush squad gunned down Rep. Leo Ryan and other members of the congressman’s fact-finding mission.

Ryan, a congressman from the San Francisco area who had visited the temple’s headquarters in Guyana, was shot to death along with three newsmen and a temple defector on a jungle airstrip as they were about to leave the South American country. Eleven people were wounded.

Hours later, Jones and 912 followers died by poison and gunfire in a murder-suicide ritual at their agricultural headquarters, where Jones had relocated from California the previous year.

Layton, now 40, was arrested by Guyanese authorities on the airstrip and charged with attempting to murder two temple defectors whom he had shot on a small plane. Ryan was boarding another plane.

He was acquitted of the counts but then transferred to San Francisco to face the only criminal charges brought against any former temple member in the United States: conspiracy and aiding and abetting in the killing of Ryan and the wounding of Richard Dwyer, deputy U.S. chief of mission in Guyana.

Three of the charges against Layton carry potential life sentences. His first trial, in 1981, ended in a hung jury.

Layton is not accused of taking part in the actual shootings of Ryan and Dwyer. But the prosecution contends that his shootings of the defectors were part of an overall conspiracy, directed by Jones, to keep Ryan and his party from reporting conditions at Jonestown to the outside world.

Tamburello said the alleged motive made no sense.

“Killing a congressman would bring more attention, more investigation and more focus than anything else,” the defense lawyer said.

He said Layton is a convenient foil for remorseful survivors of the group, as well as for the State Department, which he said knew of conditions at the camp and did nothing.

“There’s no one left but Mr. Layton,” Tamburello said. “He’s the scapegoat for everybody.”

Move Assailed

He assailed the prosecution’s attempt to portray Layton as close to the temple leadership by showing photographs and videotapes of Layton standing near Jones or his aides.

“Guilt by proximity . . . (is) not recognized by any civilized nation . . . ,” Tamburello said. “No witness has placed Mr. Layton in a position of leadership.”