Maine mortgage broker's murder conviction upheld

PORTLAND, Maine—Maine's highest court has denied the appeal of a Portland mortgage broker who was convicted in the fatal shooting of friend after a night of heavy drinking and drug use.

Steven Clark is serving a 43-year prison sentence for the February 2006 murder of Robert Wagner of Gray. Clark admitted shooting Wagner and burying the body, but claimed he acted in self-defense.

In his appeal, Clark argued that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. He also claimed the state's attorney committed prosecutorial misconduct and that the court abused its discretion in excluding a photograph from evidence.

In a unanimous 11-page ruling issued Thursday, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld Clark's conviction.

Clark's trial included testimony about his lifestyle as a young mortgage broker in his 20s with plenty of cash who liked to drink and use drugs, cruise in his Hummer and get into scuffles in the Old Port.

During the trial, witnesses testified how Clark, Wagner and another friend drank heavily at the Platinum Plus strip club on Valentine's Day night before going to Clark's house where they consumed hallucinogenic mushrooms and drank beer.

Clark testified that he shot Wagner twice, but said he acted in self-defense after Wagner lunged at him with a knife. He later enlisted his father and brother to help him bury Wagner's body on his father's wooded property in Baldwin, but his father later turned him in.

A jury convicted Clark in January 2007.

Besides arguing that there was insufficient evidence to convict him, Clark alleged that the prosecutor made prejudicial statements to the jury by giving her personal opinion as to Clark's guilt or credibility and making comments about Clark's silence to police following his arrest. The appeal also claimed that the prosecutor improperly attacked the integrity of Clark's lawyer and improperly elicited testimony regarding Clark's drug use.

The appeal also claimed the judge erred by excluding from evidence a photograph showing Clark handcuffed and sprayed with mace during an earlier arrest. Clark hoped to use the photo to explain his distrust of the Portland Police Department and why he feared that detectives would reject his assertions of self-defense.