BOSTON -- A woman serving on the Christa Worthington murder case jury was removed from the panel Tuesday morning after the presiding judge trial listened to telephone recordings between the juror and her boyfriend, who was arrested over the weekend.

The attorney for defendant Christopher McCowen protested the decision, saying it was "outrageous" to take the juror off the panel after it had been deliberating for five days. Robert George said the move destroyed his client's right to a fair trial and he called for a mistrial. Judge Gary Nickerson denied the motion.

The latest developments in the case arose when the judge and attorneys listened to recorded phone calls the juror made to her boyfriend, Kyle Hicks, who was in jail. Hicks, 23, was arrested and charged with attempted murder following a shooting in Falmouth over the weekend.

In the phone conversations, the juror called police "dumb" when referring to how they had questioned her about Hicks' case. She also talked about television coverage of the Worthington case.

"They pulled me in there ... and they were talking about what happened at my home ... it's already on Court TV and everything that one of the jurors is related to the shooting," the distraught juror said on the phone. When Hicks asked if that meant she would be taken off the case, she said no.

"They can't take me off it because it had nothing to do with this case ... still, it's all over the (expletive) news now," she said.

Hicks responded, "I'm serious. Tell them. Get you out of there."

State prosecutor Robert Welsh said the tapes showed the juror should be dismissed from the panel.

"There is a compelling reason for removal of this juror. I would suggest she is not fair and impartial at this point, based on the conversations, and I would ask the court to exercise its discretion," Welsh said.

Nickerson agreed the juror's comments showed bias against police and indicated she had ignored his instructions to avoid media reports about the trial.

The judge called the jury back and told them he had removed one of the jurors for "personal reasons" that had nothing to do with the case, then instructed the clerk to select an alternate juror who could continue with the deliberations. The juror must start deliberations all over again.

McCowen is charged with raping and fatally stabbing the fashion writer in her Truro, Mass., home in 2002.

The Barnstable Superior Court jury deliberating the case told Judge Gary Nickerson Monday that they were deadlocked and unable to reach an unanimous decision.

The jury had deliberated for 28 hours during five days before saying they had reached an impasse. Nickerson decided to sequester the jury and instructed them to continue deliberating in an attempt to reach a verdict.

McCowen, 34, was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated rape and aggravated burglary in the 2002 slaying. Worthington was found fatally stabbed on her kitchen floor, her 2-year-old daughter Ava clinging to her body.

McCowen provided investigators with a DNA sample, which was later linked to DNA found on Worthington's body. He claimed that he went to Worthington's house for sex but that a friend, Jeremy Frazier, actually killed her. Frazier had an alibi and was never charged.