Layton

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Laurence Layton has been indicted on four criminal counts arising from the events which occurred at the Port Kaituma airport in the nation of Guyana on November 18, 1978. Those events resulted in the death of Congressman Leo J. Ryan, then a member of the United States House of Representatives from the 11th Congressional District of California, and the wounding of Richard Dwyer, the Deputy Chief of Mission for the United States in the Republic of Guyana. Congressman Ryan had traveled to Guyana for the purpose of investigating certain allegations that had risen concerning the Peoples Temple settlement in Jonestown. Mr. Layton had lived in Jonestown for the few months preceding the events in question here. The indictment charges Mr. Layton with (1) conspiracy to murder a Congressman, under 18 U.S.C. § 351 (d); (2) aiding and abetting in the murder of a Congressman, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 351 (a), 2; (3) conspiracy to murder an internationally protected person, under 18 U.S.C. § 1117 ; and (4) aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of an internationally protected person, under 18 U.S.C. §§ 1116 (a), 2.

The defendant has moved, under Federal Rule of Criminal…