Judge Gary Nickerson told jurors, several of whom appeared upset, that his order was not related to their announcement. The order appeared to stem from a closed hearing Nickerson held Monday morning. The subject of the hearing was not disclosed.

"I have done this for several reasons. I have done this in the interests of justice," Nickerson said. "Jurors, I apologize for this. I am well aware this is an enormous inconvenience for you."

The order came about three hours after the panel of seven women and five men notified Nickerson that it was deadlocked on the guilt or innocence of Christopher McCowen and needed guidance.

"After weighing all of the evidence over the past five days, we the jury have come to the conclusion that we are deadlocked on coming to a decision on guilty or not guilty to any of the charges," jurors wrote.

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McCowen's lawyer, Robert George, asked Nickerson to give the panel a so-called "dynamite" charge, an instruction that judges sometimes give deadlocked juries to get members to seriously consider the arguments made by other jurors during deliberations. Nickerson reserved judgment on George's motion to have the jury sequestered for the remainder of the trial.

"You aren't the first jury in the history of Massachusetts jurisprudence to report this type of situation to a court," Nickerson told the jurors.

He then gave them a sort of pep talk, saying they alone were in the best position to resolve the issues. There is no reason to believe that another jury could be more impartial or wise, or that a retrial would produce any better evidence for a different jury, the judge added.

"With this view, it is your duty to decide the case if you can conscientiously do so," Nickerson said, sending the jury back to resume deliberations.

One of the issues for the jury is whether two Massachusetts State Police detectives manipulated McCowen into incriminating himself during a six-hour interrogation on April 14, 2005. Armed with a DNA analysis that linked McCowen's genetic profile to semen found inside Worthington's battered, half-naked body, Troopers William Burke and Christopher Mason got McCowen to tell them that he was at Worthington's beach house when she was stabbed but denied being the killer.

The defense claimed during the month-long trial that McCowen had consensual sex with Worthington two days before the killing, and that he was confused when he talked to police. McCowen has an IQ of 76 of 78, slightly above that of mentally retarded people, according to testimony.

Worthington, 46, lived with her toddler daughter, Ava, in a small house in North Truro, a small, quiet hamlet just south of the busy Cape Cod resort community of Provincetown. The crime was discovered by Tim Arnold, a neighbor and former boyfriend who quickly became a suspect. Police also investigated Tony Jackett, an area bay constable who fathered Ava despite being married to another woman for years.

Police interviewed McCowen several times between 2002 and 2005, and accepted his claim that he barely knew Worthington and had no relationship with her. That changed in April 2005, when the DNA analysis placed McCowen inside the house.

The trial is being shown live at Court TV Extra.