Donte T. Paige, the Maryland man accused of killing a college student in Denver while he attended a drug program at the direction of a Prince George's County judge, will be extradited to Colorado by the end of the week, according to the Denver district attorney's office.

Paige, 22, of Prince George's County has been in county jail since late February after being charged with armed robbery of a Laurel convenience store. Two Denver deputy sheriffs will escort him to Denver, where he will be tried for the slaying of Peyton Tuthill, 24. He is charged in Denver with first-degree murder, felony murder, sexual assault, aggravated robbery and first-degree burglary.

John Simonet, director of the Denver Sheriff's Department, said the deputies will pick him up today or tomorrow and fly him back.

Prince George's State's Attorney Jack B. Johnson cleared the way for the extradition yesterday by dropping the local armed robbery charges.

The Denver District Attorney's office said Tuthill was killed after she interrupted a burglary Feb. 24 at her home in the City Park area. Paige was arrested in Maryland three days later in the robbery.

Paige had been living in Denver since October, when a Prince George's judge allowed him to leave prison, where he was serving a 10-year sentence, to attend a Denver drug treatment school.

Pub Date: 4/07/99