BANGOR – Donald W. Macomber doesn’t get nervous anymore when he argues cases before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

The assistant attorney general on Tuesday told Hampden Academy students observing oral arguments before the state’s high court that he’d been peppered with questions by the justices 59 times over the past 15 years.

“After reading the record, the appellate briefs and previous decisions, I usually can tell whether I’m going to win or not,” Macomber, who regularly handles appeals for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, said in response to a student’s question. “But I have been caught off guard by the justices a few times.”

Students from Hampden High School and Husson College in Bangor questioned attorneys during breaks in between cases.

Justices usually hear cases at the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland. The court convened in the Penobscot County Superior Courthouse for its April session. Last year, it visited Bangor in May.

“It’s interesting to see this side of the law rather than the courtroom dramas that are on television,” Scott Simpson, 18, of Hampden said. “This is an inside view of the legal system. It’s interesting to see that in action.”

As a member of Hampden’s mock trial team, Simpson is a little more familiar with courtroom procedures than other high school seniors. His team captured the state title in December and will compete next month at the National Mock Trial Competitions in Charlotte, N.C.

The cases that the students observed Tuesday included a zoning dispute over an Old Town property, a question about a stock transfer in a Franklin County country club, and the appeal of a murder conviction.

Roscoe Sargent, who was 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.

Sargent’s attorney, Joseph Pickering of Bangor, argued Tuesday that Dr. Edward David, a Bangor neurologist who also works as a medical examiner, should not have been allowed to testify about the defendant’s mental condition because he had not reviewed all the medical records.

David, who had accompanied police to the Sargent residence and determined that the pregnant woman was the victim of a homicide, testified as a neurologist for the state. He was called by prosecutors to refute the testimony of Dr. Paul Tisher, a neuropsychiatrist who said that Sargent suffered from complex partial seizures that would impair his ability to be aware of what was happening.

Members of Fliegelman Sargent’s family attended the Tuesday session to hear arguments in the appeal.

“I feel confident the judges will do the right thing,” Kristen Eckmann, 30, of Hudson said after the justices recessed for lunch. Eckmann is Fliegelman Sargent’s aunt.

There is no timetable for when the justices must issue their decision.

The court is scheduled again today to hear arguments in Bangor.