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Page 2-Tuesday, July21, 1981-The Michigan Daily
Larry Layton
to face trial in
Jonestown case
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Larry
Layton, once a true believer in Jim
Jones and his Peoples Temple, goes on
trial today in a murder conspiracy case
which could shed new light on the mass
killings and suicides which shocked the
world in 1978..
With jury selection scheduled first in
federal court, testimony is not expected
to begin until mid-August. But the
bizarre events in a Guyanese jungle,
which claimed 913 lives and ended the
reign of a maniacal cult leader, will be
recalled from the start as Chief U.S.
District Judge Robert Peckham and
lawyers try to find an impartial jury.
"WE'RE FINDING that the level of
recognition in this case is very, very
high," Tony Tamburello, Layton's
private defense attorney, said. "It's as
high as anything that's happened in the
last 50 years. People are in-
terested... Some of the interest is
macabre, but most of it is just
curiosity."
The shootings of Rep. Leo Ryan, (D-
Calif.), three newsmen and a Temple
defector on a remote airstrip three
years ago triggered the mass suicide-
murder of 913 followers of Jones, a San
Francisco preacher who moved his
flock to Guyana to live communally in
the jungle.
JONES, WHO orchestrated the
bizarre ritual, was found shot to death.
Layton, the 35-year-old college
graduate who gave up his wife to Jones
and emigrated with him to Guyana, is
the only survivor to stand trial in the
WELCOME TO
DASCOLA STYLISTS
* 4 Barbers
* No Waiting
Liberty off State.. 668-9529
East U, at So. U.... 662-0354
Arborland........971-9975
Maple Village.....761-2733
United States on charges stemming
from the jungle massacre and airport
slayings of Rep. Leo Ryan, (D-Calif.),
and four other people as they tried to
leave the Jonestown settlement.
Tamburello sees the recognition fac-
tor as a roadblock to finding jurors with
no preconceived opinions, and both he
and his co-counsel, Chief U.S. Public
Defender James Hewitt, said they per-
ceive Layton's case as a David-and-
Goliath battle with the U.S. gover-
nment.
SPECIFICALLY, they say they have
been denied access to many State.
Department records on the Jonestown
settlement and the massacre.
"The State Department will not give
us this information because they say
it's classified," Hewitt said. "They
claim national security is involved.
"We suspect a lot of CIA involvement
in the Jonestown settlement but we
can't prove it," he said. "We can't get
enough evidence to put on that kind of a
defense. It's very frustrating. We know
something is there beneath the surface,
but we can't prove it."
SANFORD SVETCOV, the chief
assistant U.S. attorney who is directing
the prosecution, declines to discuss why
documents are being withheld.
"The defense is getting what they're
entitled to," Svetcov said. "If it's
material and appropriate for the defen-
se to have it, the judge will release it."
Svetcov declined to disclose the
prosecution's strategy, and the defense
attorneys said their course will not be
certain until the government case is
revealed.
BUT TAMBURELLO and Hewitt in-
dicate they will attack the gover-
nment's handling of the Jonestown
situation both before and after the
massacre.
"My whole feeling is the government
wants to tiea neat little package around
Larry Layton and present him as the
one responsible," said Tamburello.
"That's absurd. It's incredible."
Today
..And they're off
P ARAMOUNT MAY have traded the glory of Belmont Park for the
staid bridal paths of Central Park, but the 20-year-old retired racehorse
has proven he's still the tops. The usually docile chestnut gelding, for no ap-
parent reason except the memories of past runs for the roses, took off on
a weekend gallop through Manhattan's Upper West Side, leaving his rider
and onlookers gasping. Margaret Pocock, who rented Paramount from the
Claremont Riding Academy, said the horse was trotting and cantering on a
Central Park bridle path Sunday when he suddenly began racing with
another horse. At 90th Street and Central Park West, the.traffic lights star-
ted to turn as Paramount raced for the intersection. "I sort of half slid and
half fell to the ground," said Miss Pocock, who was "just a bit dazed, with
maybe a bruised nose." Residents spotted Paramount galloping west across
90th Street and called police. Officer Peter Scalisi raced after the horse in his
cruiser and caught up with him at 79th Street and Riverside Drive, where he
had paused to graze. Scalisi, who said he loves to ride, mounted Paramount,
subdued him and returned him to the stable. Paul Novograd, the stable
owner, said he had no idea what made Paramount race to Riverside Drive.
"Long ago the drive was the place for fashionable parading on horses," he
said. "Maybe it was a genetic throwback."
Games people play
A T SIX HOURS, the Davis, Calif. event wasn't the longest Monopoly
game i history. But with a black-square parking lot as the playing
board, it might have been the biggest. At least Davis game store owner
Derrick Bang thought so as six players rolled his home-made foot-square
dice and shouted orders to other people serving as counters. Bang made
houses and hotels of cardboard, stenciled 19-by-23 inch property cards, and
supplied $15,000 in bills measuring 8-by-14 inches. "I enjoy doing things that
are sort of unique and that can involve my customers," Bang explained. He
said the set cost $200 to make. He charged each player $10. The winner,
Elysa Zweig, 27, whose husband Bruce served as her counter. "We play it on
a regular basis, and since we also dabble in real estate, this seemed like a
good way to play the game," Mrs. Zweig said.
Toda vs weather
Mostly clear, with high temperatures in the mid-80s.
Happenings .. .
Films
CFT-Modern Times, 4, 7,8:40 & 10:20 p.m., Michigan Theater.
Miscellaneous
Folk Dance Club-beginning teaching, 7 p.m., Union.
Third International Keyboard Institute-Organ Week, call 764-2500.
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 44-S
Tuesday, July 21, 1981
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