PORTLAND – The defense being mounted by a man charged with manslaughter in the deaths of two boaters on Long Lake in August 2007 is fast becoming one of the most expensive in recent history, two Maine defense lawyers said Monday.

Court records show Robert LaPointe has paid a $275,000 retainer to his Boston-based lawyer, J. Albert Johnson.

Lawyers for relatives of Suzanne Groetzinger and Terry Raye Trott, who died after their boat was struck by LaPointe’s powerboat, are asking a judge to stop LaPointe and his father from selling any property so money will be left to pay damages in civil suits filed against the men.

It is not illegal to sell assets to pay for criminal defense, even if the defendant has been notified of a potential civil suit, according to Walter McKee, past president of the Maine Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Still, McKee said the $275,000 retainer fee for LaPointe’s defense is one of the most significant he’s heard of in Maine.

Daniel Lilley, another well-known criminal defense lawyer in Maine, said he couldn’t recall any manslaughter cases in which a lawyer was paid $275,000, although fees have reached that level in murder cases handled by himself and others.

LaPointe, of Medway, Mass., is scheduled to stand trial Sept. 8 in Portland on two manslaughter counts.

Heather LaPointe, the wife of the defendant, says the family has gone deeply into debt to pay her husband’s $100,000 bail and the $275,000 retainer for his criminal defense. The family has not tried to hide any assets, she said in a court filing.

Prosecutors say Robert LaPointe was driving his 32-foot powerboat between 45 and 50 mph after dark on Aug. 11, 2007, on Long Lake in Harrison when it struck the 14-foot boat in which Groetzinger and Trott were riding.

Prosecutors say Robert LaPointe’s blood-alcohol content was 0.11 percent three hours after the crash; .08 percent is the legal threshold for driving in Maine.

Lawyers for relatives of Groetzinger, 44, and Trott, 55, asked Cumberland County Superior Court to stop the LaPointes from selling property and to place liens on property owned by LaPointe and his father, George LaPointe Jr. of Ashland, Mass.

“What we are trying to accomplish is at the end of the day, that there is something left for the family members,” said Ben Gideon, a lawyer representing the Groetzinger family.

According to court records, Robert and Heather LaPointe took out a $100,000 equity loan on a summer home in Bridgton and sold 100 acres to Robert LaPointe’s father for $125,000 after LaPointe was indicted last fall. Gideon claims the land transaction was an effort to shield assets.

LaPointe’s lawyer, J. Albert Johnson, has represented 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 teenage 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 My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war, and was defense counsel of record for James McCord, who was charged with violations in connection with the Watergate case.