PORTLAND – A defense attorneys’ association has come to the defense of embattled supreme court law clerk Harvey Prager, saying it would be unconstitutional to remove him from his post because of his drug smuggling conviction.

“Even people who made serious mistakes can make good in society without being stigmatized,” said Leonard I. Sharon, president of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “Just because it’s drugs doesn’t mean Mr. Prager is forever evil.”

The association responded to a call from Maine’s district attorneys that Prager be removed as a law clerk to Justice Howard Dana.

Prager was convicted in 1988 on federal charges that he smuggled 11 tons of marijuana into Maine. He spent three years as a fugitive in Europe before his arrest and conviction.

Instead of going to prison, Prager was sentenced to care for AIDS patients. While serving that sentence, he became a top law school student. He was picked last year by Dana to fill one of the 11 coveted clerkships.

The selection angered prosecutors, who said Prager’s position was an affront to the law enforcement community.

The Maine Prosecutors Association last month asked Chief Justice Daniel E. Wathen to remove Prager from his job. But Sharon said that Prager has already been punished. And, he said removal would amount to punishment without trial, which is unconstitutional.

“We are a society of mercy, capable of allowing people who have made a mistake to have a life of dignity if they can prove themselves,” Sharon said.

David Crook, president of the prosecutors association, said the district attorneys were not demanding that Prager be punished.

Crook said his group simply doesn’t think a convicted drug smuggler is the right kind of person to be chosen for jobs such as police officers, judges or law clerks.