A prominent Miami-Dade judge abused her authority by filming a show called “Protection Court” — using real people involved in domestic-violence cases, a state commission has ruled.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Carroll Kelly, who oversees the family division, violated numerous judicial ethics rules by embarking on the television project, Florida’s Judicial Qualifications Commission said on Wednesday.

“In so doing, you lent the prestige of your judicial office to advance the private interests of yourself or others,” the commission said in a probable-cause document released by the Florida Supreme Court.

“Protection Court,” produced by Trifecta Entertainment & Media and Scott Sternberg Productions, was supposed to debut in the fall of 2019. Clips of the reality show, which aired in syndication, featured real domestic victims: a man who claimed his girlfriend maced him, a woman allegedly attacked by her mom, a grandma allegedly threatened by her grandson.

The show was still on. An episode aired Thursday morning on South Florida’s MY TV 33, WBFS-TV, a CBS-owned network.

I am excited to welcome America into my courtroom to see what really goes on — with real cases and real human conflict,” Kelly told a trade website last year. “It is sometimes dramatic, sometimes lighthearted and humorous, but always compelling. Most importantly, it serves to protect victims and those in fear.

“I hope this show will educate and inform people in need that there is help available, that they are not alone, and that the courts are here to protect them.”

Daytime television has long been replete with so-called courtroom shows such as the The People’s Court and Judge Judy. But those shows aren’t real courts. Instead, show producers reach out to litigants, usually who have cases in small-claims court, and ask them if they want to hash it out in what amounts to televised arbitration.

The JQC filed the complaint even though Kelly, a judge of 22 years, had secured an ethics opinion paving the way for the filming of the show. In September 2018, the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee said the filming of the show was not an ethical issue and should be left up to the court administration.

“We can only say that none of the canons in Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct address this topic directly,” the committee ruled.

The court administration, led by Chief Judge Bertila Soto, approved the filming of the show. The commission, however, claimed that Carroll “made misleading statements” to the chief judge saying the show would not violate any judicial codes of conduct.

Also, the people involved in the domestic-violence cases were “given minimal notice” about the show when a producer asked them to sign appearance release forms, just before entering their hearings. “Even litigants who did not consent to appear in Protection Court were still filmed,” the commission said.

Her lawyer, David Rothman, declined to comment. Judge Kelly must now respond to the allegations. Possible discipline would eventually be meted out by the Florida Supreme Court.