Fourteenth Judicial District Court Judge Michael Canaday admitted to “a series of failures” in his handling of a 1998 fatal stabbing case in which he was later recused.

Canaday, who appeared before the state Judiciary Commission on Friday, is accused of giving away defense strategy in the Dennis Jerome Bartie case without consulting with the defense, according to court documents.

“I never thought I would actually be in front of this group, to be quite candid,” Canaday said. “The fact that I am is an embarrassment to me.”

Bartie is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 45-year-old Rose Born, who was found stabbed to death in her Paradise Donuts shop on 18th Street on July 8, 1998. The case was cold until 2016 when Bartie became a suspect after DNA he submitted before entering prison in the 2006 stabbing of his ex-girlfriend in Baton Rouge linked him to the Born case.

Born stabbed more than 30 times, then-Police Chief Don Dixon told the American Press. DNA found under her fingernails matched that of Bartie, Dixon said.

In 2017, Bartie’s defense attorneys —  Todd S. Clemons, Adam Johnson and Janet Madison — asked Canaday to order funding for DNA experts to counter the prosecution’s evidence. To justify it, they spelled out their defense strategy to Canaday in his chambers, sealing the transcripts.

Emails would later show that Canaday agreed privately with a prosecutor to unseal them, then signed a motion releasing the transcripts to the DA’s office without Bartie’s defense team knowing about it.

Canaday told the Judiciary Commission on Friday that he believed prosecutors would alert Bartie’s lawyers to their motion to unseal the transcripts.

“I believe I was kind of caught up in a perfect storm,” he told the board. “I created a situation. I made legal error. I committed judicial impropriety.”

Canaday was ultimately removed from the Bartie case in a recusal upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court, which will determine any discipline the judge may receive. The Judiciary Commission is charged with investigating complaints of misconduct by judges and recommending discipline to the high court.

The Office of Special Counsel has previously recommended Canaday be publicly censured and reimburse the $1,000 incurred in the investigation and prosecution of the case.