An Albany County Court judge has been censured after calling a jail sheriff during a murder case, in which a motion was pending on excluding evidence of the defendant-inmate’s recorded calls, inquiring about the procedure for notifying inmates about the recording of calls and then denying the motion, according to the state Commission on Judicial Conduct.

In a determination opinion made public Friday by the commission, which in part censured Judge William Carter for having ex parte communication with the sheriff, the commission said that during the ensuing murder trial, the judge admitted into evidence certain jail-recorded phone conversations, over the objection of the defendant’s lawyer, and a jury soon convicted the defendant, Richard Quinn.