BATON ROUGE — A trial opened this week for a man accused of killing two people, including an ex-girlfriend whom he believed was responsible for his arrest on a methamphetamine charge.

Brian Lavergne, 37, is accused of killing Laquincia Jackson, 26, and Fredrick Hollins, 33, at a Tigerland home on Jan. 23, 2021. Lavergne and Jackson had dated for years, but in the four years before the killing Jackson was seeing Hollins, court records show.

Police initially accused Lavergne of first-degree murder but a grand jury returned an indictment for second-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Lavergne blamed Laquincia for his arrest on possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia charges. Five days after the arrest near the intersection of Highland Road and Burbank Drive, Jackson and Hollins were shot several times with a 12-gauge shotgun while in bed.

Police focused on Lavergne after the woman's family said Lavergne had called her more than 100 times the day she died.

This past June, a judge ruled the meth arrest could not be used at Lavergne's trial, saying it was not an element of murder and that the "relevancy of the arrest to the murders was 'very slight.'" The state appealed to the 1st Circuit, which reversed the ruling in September.

Lavergne is being represented by defense attorney S. Sterling III. Sterling insists his client is innocent, and during jury selection he question potential jurors about their ability to remain fair and open during the trial. 

"We believe that he's innocent, and he's been awaiting his trial date for three years," Sterling said. "All we wanted were qualified jurors who had an open mind and don't have any knowledge about the case and who are willing to listen to all of the evidence and make a sound verdict. That's all we really want. That's what my client wants, and he's been waiting years for it."

The case is being heard by 19th Judicial District Judge Louise Hines.