The State - News from Jan. 22, 1987

Larry Layton, facing life in prison for conspiring to kill Rep. Leo Ryan and a diplomat in the Jonestown murder-suicide, said he wants a new lawyer to replace the one who has defended him for the last five years. Robert Bryan, the new lawyer, told San Francisco U.S. District Judge Robert F. Peckham that Layton would have testified in his own defense at his trial last year if Tony Tamburello, Layton’s lawyer since 1979, had adequately informed Layton that he faced the possibility of a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. Bryan said Layton thought he could have been placed on probation. Peckham said he would decide the matter on Friday, when Layton is scheduled to be sentenced.