New trial to be weighed in Peoples Temple case

September 28, 1981

The jury in the conspiracy trial of former Peoples Temple aide Larry Layton failed to reach a verdict in the slaying of Rep. Leo J. Ryan in its eighth day of deliberations Saturday and the judge declared a mistrial. Lawyers for both sides will meet this week to discuss the possibility of another trial.

Mr. Layton, the only American to stand trial in connection with the deaths, was charged with joining in the plot that led to the slaying of Mr. Ryan, three newsmen, and a temple defector and the wounding of US diplomat Richard Dwyer and several other people at a Guyanese airstrip in 1978.