Spotted in Annapolis near the city dock:

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As a theater aficianado, Judge Dana Mark Levitz is probably familiar with the concept of a ”limited engagement.”  The term can now also be used to describe his role as a retired, visiting judge, which is what he was Wednesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court.

Levitz has sat in the Towson courthouse a few times since he retired at the end of last year, and Wednesday I sat in on part of the criminal docket he was handling. His familiar, booming voice popped up occasionally, but there was a softer edge. Levitz walked into the courtroom with a big smile, the look of a man happy to be back in the courtroom but also happy that he was just visiting.

I found Levitz to be wonderfully quotable while he was a sitting judge, and that apparently hasn’t been affected by retirement. He told a 21-year-old charged with D.U.I., “I believe there’s not a person in this courthouse who didn’t do something stupid when they were young. God knows, I did. This is your stupid.” He fined the defendant and gave her probation.

He later sentenced a 38-year-old Parkville man to three years in jail for a series of car burglaries around Loch Raven Reservoir earlier this year. The defendant said he broke into the cars to steal credit cards to support his heroin addiction. Levitz shook his head.

“Is getting high worth it? I can’t imagine it is, but people keep doing it,” he said. “What a waste at any chance for a happy life.”