A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the retrial of a man charged with capital murder in the slaying of a doctor’s wife who was sexually assaulted, stabbed and beaten in her Decatur home in 1999.

Jurors said they were deadlocked after six days of deliberation on the fate of Daniel Wade Moore, so Circuit Judge Steve Haddock ended the trial.

Moore, 34, was on trial for the second time in the stabbing death of Karen Tipton, 39. His first conviction and death sentence in 2002 was overturned after the judge cited prosecutors for withholding evidence from the defense.

On Tuesday, Haddock had urged jurors to continue working toward a verdict to avoid the expense and other problems of a third trial.

“The reality is, if this case has to go for a third trial, it diminishes the fairness for both sides,” he said at the time.

Prosecutors said they would push for another trial, but a defense lawyer said the state couldn’t prove its case.

“Obviously some on the panel had some reasonable doubt and they didn’t have enough evidence to convict him, and that’s the way the system is supposed to work,” said Sherman Powell, Moore’s lead attorney.

Prosecutors claim Moore was looking for valuables to sell or trade for crack cocaine to feed his addiction when he allegedly killed Tipton. Moore’s lawyers claim the killing was a crime of passion, and that Tipton was killed by someone who once deeply cared for her.

Moore, charged with four counts of capital murder, became a suspect less than a month after Tipton’s husband, Dr. David Tipton, said he found her fatally stabbed, beaten and sexually assaulted at their home in Decatur.

Forensic experts testified that pubic hairs found in Tipton’s bed were consistent with those of Moore, and a state expert testified that Moore and Karen Tipton were contributors to the DNA mixture found on the hairs.

The judge has declared a mistrial in the capital murder case against Daniel Wade Moore in Decatur.

Circuit Judge Steve Haddock declared the mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict after six days of deliberations.

Moore was on trial for the second time in the 1999 stabbing death of Karen Tipton in her Decatur home. His first conviction and death sentence was overturned after the judge cited prosecutors for withholding evidence from the defense.