BATON ROUGE - An unusual trial is underway in the 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish. A man was accused of coercing a domestic abuse victim in his case not to testify against him. 

In 2022, Lance Sarkozy was arrested for domestic abuse with aggravated assault and possession of a firearm by a felon. According to arrest documents, Sarkozy pointed a gun at Alicia Rogers Vano. Rogers Vano called police and said multiple times she feared for her life. 

After his arrest, Sarkozy continued communicating with Rogers Vano by phone even though a restraining order was filed. A witness who combed through the recorded calls said there were 200 phone calls between the two. Court documents also included letters written by Sarkozy, which were intercepted by the jail. 

"I call out for you from my heart, my soul laid bare and destitute to be so alone again," Sarkozy wrote. "I love you. I am confident that we will beat this. Trust me on my strategy."

In one letter, Sarkozy wrote instructions to Rogers Vano on how to file a drop charge request. 

"The big 'A,' as I'll refer to the thing I want from now on, does this in the best way; it kills the evidence, reinforces my initial statement and all but bans the D.A. from any retaliation." 

Later, the victim was served a subpoena to appear as a witness for the prosecution. During a recorded phone call, Rogers Vano told Sarkozy she would not show up in person to the trial. Sarkozy suggested her absence would result in charges being dropped. 

VICTIM: "I'm not going to do it in person. I'm only doing it over zoom, otherwise I'm going to use my medical excuse of my eyesight and I can't drive. I'm going to use that medical excuse, which I have a legal right to do."

SARKOZY: "If the person shows up, they go to the person doesn't show up, they usually even drop it."

The charges were not dropped and District Attorney Hillar Moore said the court ruled to use the victim's testimony without her present.

"The victim does not appear and testify, and we're allowed under these circumstances to use that victim's statement of any kind of nature, as if she were called to testify," Moore said. "There are a lot of legitimate reasons why victims do not come forward. We presented all that evidence to the court. and the court ruled in our favor."

The trial is expected to finish up by Friday. 

Sarkozy is not allowed to have firearms because he is a convicted felon. In 1998, he beat a man to death with a hammer and was convicted of manslaughter.