R 030026Z NOV 81
FM SAN FRANCISCO (89A-250) (P) (SQ. 10)
TO DIRECTOR (89-4286) (ROUTINE)
BT
UNCLAS E F T O
RYMUR, MAJOR CASE 16
Have a pre-trial hearing this date, November 3, 1981, presiding judge denied defense motion to dismiss indictment and denied defense motion for acquittal.
The court took into consideration prosecution’s motion for reconsideration of evidentiary matters denied in previous trial. The prosecution’s motions included:
1. Statements made by Joan Jones prior to Ryan’s arrival.
2. Statement made by Jim Jones to Temple attorney, Charles Gary [Garry] November 18, 1978.
3. Statements made by Jim Jones to Peoples Temple meeting on November 18, 1978 (last hour tape).
4. Hearsay testimony from defector Dale Parks concerning
PAGE TWO SF (89A-250) UNCLAS
statements made by Tim Carter regarding infiltration of Concerned Relatives.
Judge denied motions and stated a lengthy written opinion would be forthcoming.
United States Attorney’s office advised they will now make a final determination as to government’s desirability of retrial. United States Attorney’s office indicates that if decision is made for a second trial, they will immediately file motions to appellant [appellate] court for reversal and above denied evidentiary matters. Further consideration for retrial would be made after results of appellant decision.
Bureau will be kept advised of prosecutive status.
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[Pages 3 and 4 are duplicates of pages 1 and 2]
[page 5 – AP teletype story]
Oakland, Calif. (AP) – Larry Layton, a former People’s Temple member held in Guyana since the November 1978 mass suicide of 900 Temple followers at Jonestown, will be returned to San Francisco to stand trial for conspiracy to kill Rep. Leo Ryan, a newspaper says.
The Oakland Tribune and East Bay Today reported that two FBI agents here to leave for Guyana today to bring Layton back to the United States.
Quoting confidential sources, the newspaper said Guyanese officials are cooperating in the extradition of Layton, who recently was acquitted by a Guyanese court on charges he attempted to murder two former Temple members during an airport shooting that left Ryan and four other people that left Ryan and four other people dead.
Layton remained jailed in Guyana since his acquittal while officials debated whether to press additional charges against him.
The Tribune said Layton will be brought to trial in San Francisco federal court on a charge of conspiracy to murder a federal official. No indictment has been returned against Layton, as source said, but the US Attorney’s office currently is preparing the case.
Several former Temple members have charged that cult leader Jim Jones providing favors to Guyanese officials to protect the cult from outside interference.
But in October 1978, Ryan arrived in Jonestown on a contract-finding mission about the Temple’s activities in Guyana.
The visit ended in tragedy on Nov. 18 when armed assailants attacked Ryan’s party as it prepared to leave from the Jonestown airstrip. Ryan was killed along with Greg Robinson, a photographer for the San Francisco Examiner, Don Harris and Rob [Bob] Brown of NBC News, and Patricia Parks, a defector from the Temple.
On Nov. 19 [18], more than 900 Temple members died in a mass suicide after Jones exhorted them to drink from vats containing a cyanide-laced fruit drink.
Layton later was charged with the attempted murder of Temple defectors Monica Bagby and Vern Gosney, who were wounded in the airstrip shootout. On May 22, a Guyanese jury found him innocent of the charges, but he has remained in the custody of Guyanese authorities.