Jurors Join Chase of Convict Fleeing Courthouse

A Maine judge had just ordered Nicholas Carter, who had been out on bail awaiting trial, taken into custody after he was found guilty and taken to the Somerset County Jail. But Carter, in a suit and handcuffs, jumped the bar and ran out of the second-floor courtroom and building and across the street in Skowhegan. A chase began that included marshals, detectives and jurors, the Portland Press Herald reports. Before Carter got far, he tripped and was stopped by two jurors, who were then joined by one of the detectives.

A lawyer who was in a first-floor classroom saw the escape. "This guy comes running down the stairs. He's handcuffed or shackled," Dawn DiBlasi said. "He's trying to escape. Literally, he's got his hands on the railing, coming down, trying to jump three stairs at a time." Another lawyer tried and failed to stop Carter in a hallway. Carter, 31, who was found guilty of aggravated assault of a 14-month-old child, was restored to custody. He faces a new charge in Wednesday's attempted escape, and he still has to be sentenced on the assault conviction. (More Maine stories.)