Decosta

When former Maryland offensive tackle Jared Gaither reports for his first NFL training camp, he won't have very far to travel. The Ravens selected Gaither in the fifth round of the NFL's supplemental draft yesterday, acquiring a player they believed would have been a first-day selection in next year's draft for the cost of a fifth-round pick. "If you would tell us that we drafted Jared Gaither in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, we'd be doing handstands and cartwheels," Ravens director of college scouting Eric DeCosta said.

Frank A. DeCosta Jr.,63, an attorney who practiced law in Baltimore and served as deputy chief of staff to Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, died of a heart attack Sept. 29 at his Albuquerque, N.M., home. The native of Florence, Ala., graduated from Howard University Law School and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1964.He served as an assistant state attorney general and joined the firm of Weinberg and Green in the 1970s, and was a trustee of Goucher and Villa Julie colleges. He founded D&H in the 1970s, a firm that offered investment planning, public relations and import-export sales.

A six-day hunt for Jane Frances DeCosta ended yesterday in Washington, where police found the 17-year-old girl who supplied the knife used in the 1995 killing of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor.DeCosta was discovered in an apartment in southeast Washington, police said, and was being kept under suicide watch at the jail in the Sixth District. She had been missing since Wednesday from her parents' house in Timonium where she was staying temporarily."She had been [in the apartment]

Baltimore County Circuit Judge Barbara Kerr Howe issued a warrant yesterday for the arrest of Jane Frances DeCosta on charges of violating her probation in the 1995 killing of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor.DeCosta, 17, disappeared early Wednesday from her parents' Timonium home before she was to testify in an unrelated court case. Yesterday, county police continued to follow leads, but were unable to locate the girl.She had been brought to Maryland during the weekend from Florida, where she has been in a locked mental-health facility under court order from Howe.

Jane Frances DeCosta, a Timonium teen-ager sent to a locked mental facility for her role in the 1995 killing of a Sheppard xTC and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor, vanished yesterday from her parents' home, where she had been staying as she waited to testify in an unrelated case.The 17-year-old's lawyer, M. Cristina Gutierrez, said DeCosta -- who had a history of running away -- left the house "sometime after 4 a.m. She took nothing, no money, no backpack, no clothes."A private investigator hired by DeCosta's family, as well as Baltimore County police, were searching for the girl yesterday after her mother reported her missing about 11 a.m.Yesterday afternoon, Assistant State's Attorney John P. Cox obtained a "body attachment," similar to a warrant, to allow police to arrest her because she failed to appear as a witness in the trial.

The 17-year-old girl who supplied the knife used in the 1995 killing of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor was returned to Baltimore County and ordered held without bail last night on charges she violated probation last week by fleeing from her parents' house in Timonium.Jane Frances DeCosta was found Monday in Washington after a six-day search. She was transported yesterday to the Women's Detention Center.DeCosta will have a hearing in county Circuit Court on the status of her probation, which she received for taking part in the 1995 killing of Sharon Edwards.

Timonium teen-ager Jane Frances DeCosta, convicted as an accessory in the 1995 murder of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor, remains on probation after a hearing before a Baltimore County judge yesterday, a week after she fled the county while waiting to testify in an unrelated case.Baltimore County Circuit Judge Barbara Kerr Howe could have sentenced DeCosta, who turned 18 on Wednesday, to finish her five-year sentence in prison for last week's flight, which ended with DeCosta's arrest in Washington on Monday.

Jane Frances DeCosta's mother portrayed the Timonium teen-ager, on trial yesterday charged with involvement in a slaying, as a runaway trying to make a new beginning days before the stabbing of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt counselor on Oct. 8, 1995."

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld yesterday the conviction of Jane F. DeCosta, the Timonium teen-ager found guilty of being an accessory after the fact to the 1995 murder of a Sheppard and Enoch Pratt Hospital counselor.The appellate court did not agree with any of the five arguments against DeCosta's January conviction in Baltimore County Circuit Court. She was acquitted of more serious charges in the death of Sharon Edwards, 26.Judge Barbara Kerr Howe imposed a five-year sentence, suspending all but the 15 months DeCosta spent in jail after her arrest, on the condition that DeCosta enter a locked mental health facility.

A Timonium teen-ager being tried as an accomplice to murder testified yesterday that she only told police she knew about the slaying plan in advance because she wanted to be sent to jail, rather than to a psychiatric institution."

The legacy Steve McNair leaves in the NFL is strong on heart and leadership, short on eye-catching numbers. In fact, his nickname, Air McNair, often didn't fit his 13-year resume with the Houston Oilers, Tennessee Titans and Ravens. Ice McNair would have been more accurate - if not as poetic - for the second black quarterback to start in a Super Bowl. In Nashville and Baltimore, McNair earned a reputation for his gritty leadership and unflappable demeanor. Few players were cooler under fire, say those who played with and against him. No quarterback was tougher.

An undrafted rookie who doesn't even have his name on the back of his jersey yet, Robby Felix understands his chances of making the Ravens this season. But beating those odds doesn't worry the team's newest center. Just six months ago, Felix suffered a stroke, a frightening medical ordeal that changed the 22-year-old's life forever. "I think about it a lot," Felix said Wednesday after his second NFL practice. "I'm scared of having another stroke. But I have to fight through it and go on with my life."

Given the urgency of teams at the top of the draft to trade back, there was a lot of talk about the draft-value chart. Personnel director Eric DeCosta said the Ravens don't follow the chart but use their own as a guideline. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/ravensblog)

Miss USA was soooo earlier this week. Our collective attention turns to Mr. NFL, and the American work force slows considerably as we fill out our mock drafts and channel our inner Mel Kiper Jr. We toss around terms like "upside" and "potential," and we're all focused on the future. Everyone is trying to identify the one guy who can change a franchise. So it makes sense that Eric DeCosta would play such a prominent role this weekend. There aren't many with a brighter future. It's kind of funny, because if you visit most NFL cities, the guy who holds DeCosta's job for the local football team would be just a guy. A name reporters bandy about, a page to be flipped past in the media guide.

Cornerback has undergone more change than any other position on the Ravens, but their offseason restocking of the secondary might not be complete. The Ravens are considering taking a cornerback in the early rounds of the NFL draft, and they are intrigued by Illinois' Vontae Davis in the first round and Utah's Sean Smith in the second. "I think corners are like pitchers in baseball - you can never have enough," said Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of player personnel. "You never want to get beat because your corners aren't good enough to play or not healthy.

It might take until the late rounds, but there is a chance the Ravens could make team history in this weekend's NFL draft. Though the Ravens have given a vote of confidence to Steve Hauschka as Matt Stover's successor, the club has contemplated drafting a kicker. The Ravens have never selected a place-kicker in 13 previous drafts, a total of 106 selections. So, what are the chances the Ravens end that streak this year? "Never say never," said Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of player personnel.

The Ravens have the No. 26 pick in the NFL draft April 25, which isn't enviable, but Eric DeCosta, the team's director of player personnel, wouldn't mind being in that spot every year. A low position in the first round is an indication of success the previous season. The Ravens also like to point out that the last time they were in this position, they selected a middle linebacker out of the University of Miami named Ray Lewis in 1996. The rest is Hall of Fame history. "I don't know if there has ever been a No. 26 pick in the history of the league as good as Ray Lewis," DeCosta said Wednesday.

As the Ravens' newly appointed director of player personnel, Eric DeCosta will take expanded duties to Indianapolis for this week's NFL scouting combine. After six years as director of college scouting, DeCosta will not only work on the evaluation of the 300-plus college players for April's draft, but he will also address free agency for the Ravens. "It's different, but exciting," DeCosta, 37, said shortly after his promotion. General manager Ozzie Newsome revised titles and job descriptions after director of pro personnel George Kokinis left in January to become general manager of the Cleveland Browns.

It appears the Ravens are close, possibly one player away, from a Super Bowl after a strong 2008 season that included reaching the AFC championship game. But appearances can be deceiving. The Ravens, though, are smart enough to realize it. "We're not content," said Eric DeCosta, the director of pro personnel. "We do have holes. We're not one player away. That was obvious in the Pittsburgh game [the AFC championship]. "We have a lot of question marks, but we have good leadership and we already have a good plan in place.

Team promotes three in personnel department ravens The Ravens yesterday promoted three members of the personnel department in the wake of the departure of George Kokinis to the Cleveland Browns. General manager Ozzie Newsome announced new job descriptions for Eric DeCosta (director of player personnel), Vince Newsome (director of pro personnel) and Joe Hortiz (director of college scouting). DeCosta, 37, had been director of college scouting since 2003, having spent his entire 13-year career with the Ravens.