In 2021, Christina Sam's husband died just before Christmas.
The following month, she was sworn in to serve out the remainder of his term, and then she ran for the seat - and won - after a run-off in the fall of 2022.
But in November of that year, she was arrested and in February 2023 she was indicted by an Evangeline Parish grand jury on charges of election offenses affecting registration and election fraud/forgery. Months later, in September, those charges were dropped.
Now, a year following her arrest, she has sued the Evangeline Parish District Attorney in federal court, accusing him of violating her civil rights. To read the lawsuit for yourself, scroll down.
We reached Brignac at his home, but he said he had no comment on the lawsuit at this time.
The suit alleges that DA Trent Brignac and his investigator interrogated her for four hours without allowing her access to her attorney, coerced her into signing a "guilty plea form" and refused to let her telephone anyone for help. She was rushed in front of a judge and given a public defender, but the judge would not accept her guilty plea - and that's when things fell apart, the suit alleges.
The suit alleges that Brignac even followed her into the bathroom and sat out side her stall on a chair while she used the toilet.
That all started, the suit alleges, when Sam called the DA's office to complain that her opponent in the run-off for the seat her husband held for 15 years. She claimed that person had harassed her at home and at her place of employment, and she wanted to file charges.
But in the meantime, Brignac called a meeting with his assistant district attorneys and informed them that he would be charging her with voter fraud that day, and that she would plead guilty and resign.
"Notably, during the time of this staff meeting, Alderwoman Sam did not know of Mr. Brignac's plans to have her plead guilty to voter fraud," the suit states. "At that time, she did not know Mr. Brignac was investigating her."
Brignac alleged that Sam had registered voters in her district - but those people didn't live in the district. He said his proof was an alleged internet IP address that he said was connected to Sam. The lawsuit notes that he didn't get a subpoena for the IP address until a month later.
During the four-hour interrogation, no law enforcement was there - just Brignac and his investigator - Sam was "threatened" and placed "under extreme duress," the suit claims. Brignac said he would throw her in jail unless she pleaded guilty, and since she has several school-age children she was afraid she wouldn't be able to get to them, the suit alleges.
Brignac wouldn't let her call her family to care for her children, and said he would arrest her if she tried to do that, the suit alleges. He also called the grocery store where she had worked for years and asked the owner if she had ever stolen anything from the store. Because of that, Sam was fired, the suit alleges.
Brignac turned on a recorder to take her statement, and when he asked her if she waived her right to an attorney, she said she didn't know how to answer that, and he shook his head and mouthed the word "no," the suit alleges. She took his advice.
When Brignac took her to court to plead guilty, he approached several public defenders in the courtroom to stand in as her attorney.
"All of the public defenders refused to sign off on the guilty plea form," the suit states. "Public Defender Aaron Brown provided a statement that District Attorney Trent Brignac became visibly angry with him when he refused to stand in as the attorney for Alderwoman Sam for the guilty plea."
The suit also alleges Brignac never told Brown that Sam was an elected official who was going to plead guilty to voter fraud.
One of the PDs agreed to stand in with Sam, "for the sole purpose of advising her of her rights," the suit states, but that PD would not sign the plea form. When the judge began the process, which includes asking a defendant questions about their intent to plead - for example asking them if they understand what they're pleading to, if they understand they have a right to a trial, if they understand they aren't required to plead guilty - Sam "was so emotional and sobbing before the court, and after there were concerns expressed by a public defender" the judge said he wouldn't take the plea.
Brignac ordered the balif to book Sam into jail, but there was no information on what crime she committed and so the sheriff asked her to come back to the jail the following day.
On that day, November 18, 2022, Sam was booked with voter fraud. Brignac's secretary tried to call her that morning, but Sam wouldn't take the call. Instead, she hired an attorney.
That attorney, Roshell Jones, filed a Motion to Recuse Brignac from the case, since he personally investigated it without the involvement of law enforcement. She also filed a complaint against him with the Louisiana Attorney Disciplinary Board, the suit states. She's also the lawyer who filed the federal suit.
Five days before her Motion to Recuse was heard, Brignac got a parish grand jury to indict Sam, and at the recusal hearing the court denied her motion. Jones appealed to the Third Circuit, and that court granted her application and ordered Brignac and his entire office recused from Sam's case.
The Louisiana Attorney General's Office was assigned to prosecute the case, and Jones filed another motion - this one to dismiss the prosecution. The AG's Office did not object, and so the case was dismissed.
The suit alleges that Brignac cost Sam her job, and caused psychological damage to a woman who had never even had a traffic ticket. She had to receive psychiatric treatment because of all this, and still regularly sees a counselor to process the trauma she experienced, the suit alleges.
The suit alleges that Brignac violated Sam's 14th Amendment rights to due process, falsely imprisoned her and threatened and coerced her to get her to plead guilty. It also alleges that Brignac has no prosecutorial immunity because no law enforcement agencies were involved in the investigation and he was the sole investigator.
The suit asks for a trial by jury, and compensatory and punitive damages from Brignac.
Here's the lawsuit:
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