The seven justices of Maine’s highest court this morning criticized one of the state’s top prosecutors for her work during a murder trial last year.

They said Assistant Attorney General Lisa Marchese overstepped her bounds when she told jurors that defendant Steven Clark lied on the stand. The justices also suggested that Marchese erred when she apparently questioned the integrity of Clark’s defense lawyer, Joel Vincent.

Clark was convicted and is serving a 43-year prison sentence for the Feb. 15, 2006, murder of his friend and former business partner, Robert Wagner.

Now the state Supreme Judicial Court must decide if Marchese’s missteps are enough to grant Clark a new trial.

The justices heard the appeal at 9 a.m. today, with Vincent representing Clark and Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber representing the state.

“What do we do about the fact that the prosecutor went too far in this case?” Chief Justice Leigh Saufley asked Macomber.

Macomber said that while Marchese might have chosen the wrong words on a few occasions, there was no clear error made by the prosecutor, and Clark does not deserve a new trial.