BANGOR – The Maine Supreme Judicial Court will hear the appeals of two convicted murderers today when justices begin a two-day session in Penobscot County Superior Court.

Justices held a similar session last May in Bangor instead of at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland where they regularly convene.

This week’s session will mark the last time Justice Paul L. Rudman, 70, of Veazie will hear arguments in Bangor. Rudman announced last month that he would resign from the court July 1.

Gov. John Baldacci last week nominated Warren M. Silver, 57, of Bangor to replace him.

The state’s high court will hear arguments in 10 appeals in the third-floor courtroom of the Penobscot County Superior Court. The justices today will consider appeals in two recent high-profile murder trials.

Roscoe Sargent, sentenced last year to 50 years in prison for the Jan. 4, 2003, stabbing of his wife, is seeking a new trial. Heather Fliegelman Sargent, 20, was eight months pregnant with her first child at the time of her death.

Roscoe Sargent, 31, of Bangor was not charged in the death of his unborn son as Maine’s homicide law does not apply to unborn fetuses.

Maine Superior Court Justice E. Allen Hunter found Sargent guilty of murder in March 2004 after a three-day, jury-waived trial.

The justices also will hear arguments in the appeal of Olland Reese, 22, of Bowdoin. He is serving a 47-year sentence for murdering Cody Green, 16, of Brunswick on May 26, 2002.

Both appeals are focused on narrow legal grounds rather than new evidence.

Sargent’s attorney, Joseph Pickering of Bangor, is expected to argue that evidence seized from the murder scene, the trailer the couple shared on Ohio Street, should have been suppressed because Bangor police officers continued to gather evidence after the warrant expired at 9 p.m. Jan. 6, 2003.

Pickering also claims that photographs of scratches on Sargent’s arms were taken illegally because, although he was in custody and a suspect in the murder, he had not yet been charged with a crime.

Reese’s attorney, Andrews Campbell of Waldoboro, is expected to argue that the defense should have been allowed to introduce an alternative-suspect defense. Campbell also is challenging searches of the residence of Trudy Bither, Reese’s mother. Green’s body was found buried in a shallow grave behind Bither’s Bowdoin home.

Other cases to be heard today and Tuesday include:

. The appeal of an Old Town property owner who claims that the zoning board of appeals erred in finding that a Stillwater Avenue house had been abandoned for a year or more so could no longer be used as student housing.

. The appeal of the Christian Fellowship and Renewal Center that claims it has been illegally denied a property tax abatement by the town of Limington.

Justices also have been invited to attend a dinner tonight celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Penobscot County Bar Association.