Robert LaPointe Jr. of Medway, Mass., has hired Boston-based attorney J. Albert Johnson to defend him against criminal charges resulting from the fatal boating accident on Long Lake in Harrison in August.

According to Johnson’s Web bio, he has represented a number of high-profile clients in criminal trials, including Patty Hearst during her 1976 bank robbery trial and teacher Pamela Smart, who is serving time for hiring her lover to kill her husband.

Johnson, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, earned his law degree from Boston College and has offices in Boston and Boca Raton, Fla. A frequent guest as a legal analyst for national network newscasts and news magazines, Johnson has represented Capt. Ernest Medina, who was indicted on 102 counts of murder in the Mai Lai massacre, and was defense counsel of record for James McCord, who was charged with violations in connection with Watergate.

He is a member of a wide range of organizations, and is a member of the Massachusetts bar, the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 8th and 9th circuits.