Dontay

For all of its immediate drama, the escape of convicted killer Dontay Carter from a bathroom window at the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse appears to have been something less than the plot of a master criminal. In fact, say police sources, Carter's 28-hour run was long on opportunity, short on planning."He's nothing but a kid," says one veteran investigator. "He did all the dumb things a kid would do. He ran away and hid and waited for us."Police know of no substantive attempt by Carter to escape Baltimore.

"M-a-a-n-n-n," drawled my friend, "if I had some money I'd get some T-shirts printed that said, 'I am NOT Dontay Carter.' I bet I'd make a fortune." Everyone chuckled."Or, you know those stickers people put in the rear windows of their cars? We could get some that said, 'Dontay Carter is NOT on board." We chuckled again."I've got one," said somebody else. "What's the difference between a thriving metropolis and a ghost town? The ghost town has a sign up that says, 'Dontay Carter slept here.

We were talking about rich people's food when the news about Dontay Carter broke. Rich people's food and black-tie affairs and the sublime joys of city life.Black ties.Sublime joys.City life.The rich food and the black ties were connected with all the distinguished mayors on their way here Monday night, guests of Kurt L. Schmoke, and I'm lying if I do not mention we were being sarcastic about them all.Bill Clinton's season of service had not yet been declared. It was still our season of cynicism.

John Deros can't even go to the doctor for a routine physical without being asked, "How can you do that?"As in: How can you defend Dontay Carter?To Mr. Deros, a nine-year veteran of the public defender's office who is no fan of the bright spotlight that has been aimed on the Carter case, representing a convicted murderer such as Dontay Carter is no different than representing any other defendant. In his mind it's his job. An honorable one at that."Really," he said yesterday while preparing documents to be submitted as evidence when Carter's latest kidnapping trial resumes, "a case is a case, in my view."

They will make movies about him. Dontay Carter is the Billy the Kid of his era.The mayors of this nation have so little clout with the new crowd in Washington, they had to party in Baltimore.At last we have a Hoya for president.

Convicted killer Dontay Carter is back in a cell at Maryland's "Supermax" prison today after officers in one of the largest manhunts in city history raided a Northeast Baltimore apartment last night and found him hiding behind a bed.Carter was returned to the maximum security prison, which houses 280 of the state's most dangerous convicts, shortly before midnight after being questioned for several hours by city homicide detectives about his escape.Authorities...

For yet another day, Dontay Carter, a kid from East Baltimore, had obsessed a city.Neighbors warned each other to beware. Citizens phoned City Hall and the State House. Listeners called radio talk shows to shout about a 19-year-old killer who had disappeared into Baltimore's streets.Dontay Carter now symbolized more than urban crime. He was a metaphor for a system that that seemed out of control.For some, Carter's escape caused very specific concern:Witnesses who had testified in his first trial worried that Carter would come looking for them.

The head of the Baltimore City Detention Center yesterday fired two correctional officers, blaming their "gross negligence" for enabling convicted murderer Dontay Carter to escape through a courthouse window a day earlier."

In the bathroom of Judge John Prevas' chambers, directly over the toilet, is an old political campaign sign reading: ''Keep the Sitting Judges. Brown. Heller. Prevas.''The convicted killer Dontay Carter might have missed the little ''sitting'' joke Monday afternoon, in his rush to flee the premises, but he didn't miss the opportunity given him by the colossal stupidity of those whose job it was to watch him.''I gotta go,'' Carter said, but nobody imagined precisely how far he intended. Nor did they apparently imagine, for a single TC moment, how easy it would be for a 19-year-old kid, wearing neither handcuffs nor leg irons and already facing the prospect of life in prison, to take his leave.

Dontay Carter, the convicted murderer whose escape prompted what police called the largest manhunt in city history, was captured last night by officers who rushed into a Northeast Baltimore apartment to find him hiding behind a bed."I don't have a gun," Carter said, almost whispering, as a city police assault team surrounded him in a rear bedroom of the third-floor apartment, according to an officer who was there.Carter, 19, was taken into custody at approximately 6 p.m., about three hours after a city, state and federal task force surrounded the apartment complex at 5020 Goodnow Road and evacuated the building.