Updated at 9:30 p.m. Nov. 13 to reflect that state District Judge Teresa Hawthorne declined to comment.

A Dallas judge seeking re-election to a third term was reprimanded by the state agency that oversees judicial ethics after she intervened in her nephew's criminal case and "shamed" jurors in a separate case when they sentenced a man to 99 years in prison for rape.

The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct said that state District Judge Teresa Hawthorne violated judicial regulations by using "the prestige of her office to help resolve her nephew's pending case" and "failed to treat jurors ... with patience, dignity and courtesy when she shamed and reprimanded them before their verdict."

Teresa Hawthorne spoke during a judicial primary forum in 2010. (File Photo / Staff)

Jurors told the commission that Hawthorne told them after an October 2016 verdict that she would have voted the defendant was not guilty.

"Quite frankly, I am disturbed," one juror recalled Hawthorne saying, according to the reprimand. "I am disturbed by the way you came back with such a harsh verdict and sentence for this man's life in such a short period of time. Did you even discuss the details of this case at all?"

Hawthorne, who took office in January 2011, will remain on the bench. She declined to comment Monday night. The commission issued its reprimand Thursday.

Public reprimands for judges are rare, and it's even more unusual for a judge to receive one for two incidents at the same time. Judges and attorneys typically refrain from criticizing a jury's verdict because they can be admonished for doing so.

Dallas County Prosecutor Raquel "Rocky" Jones has declared that she is running against Hawthorne in the 2018 Democratic primary. It was not clear whether others may also be seeking the office. The filing period to run as a Democrat or Republican is still open. Jones could not be reached for comment.

In 2011, Hawthorne ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional. That decision was overturned and the capital punishment case was transferred to another judge.

In the rape case in Hawthorne's courtroom, at least three jurors spoke to the commission, including the presiding juror, who said Hawthorne told jurors after the case concluded that she "did not believe the victim was raped at all."

Hawthorne acknowledged to the commission that she told the jury that she would have found the defendant not guilty but denied other comments attributed to her by jurors.

"Judge Hawthorne stated that the jurors became shocked and angered when they heard she would have not found the defendant guilty," according to the commission. "The judge denied that she shamed or reprimanded the jury for their verdict. She stated that she regrets 'that all of this happened' and that she 'never intended to upset anyone' but she could not lie to the jury when they asked her what she thought of the case."

Another Dallas judge was scolded by the commission in recent years after saying in an interview with The Dallas Morning News that a 14-year-old rape victim "wasn't the victim she claimed to be." That judge, Janine Howard, remains on the bench.

In the case involving Hawthorne's nephew, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct found: