G. Michael Canaday Censured

G. Michael Canaday, a judge on Louisiana's 14th Judicial District Court in Calcasieu Parish, was publicly censured by the Louisiana Supreme Court for misconduct in the case of Dennis Jerome Bartie, charged with the 1998 second-degree murder of Rose Born in her doughnut shop. The Judiciary Commission found Canaday engaged in improper ex parte communications and, on September 30, 2019, granted a prosecution motion to unseal court documents without holding a hearing or giving defense counsel any opportunity to respond.

The materials Canaday released included a transcript of a closed hearing in which the defense's trial strategy for Bartie had been discussed, including which experts it planned to call and their expected testimony. Defense counsel successfully moved for Canaday's recusal from the case, a decision upheld by both the Third Circuit Court of Appeal and the Louisiana Supreme Court.