The chronically postponed murder trial of Shawn M. Kavanagh has been delayed another year due to COVID-19.

St. Charles Circuit Judge Ted House has moved the two-week trial to begin on July 6, 2021. Trial dates in May and October this year were canceled because of the difficulty of assembling a jury during the pandemic.

Kavanagh, 29, of Bellflower, is facing a potential death sentence if he is convicted of killing two women and a child, and severely wounding a third woman, at a home south of Jonesburg in February 2014. He’ll have spent more than seven years in jail by the 2021 trial date.

Kavanagh’s trial is by no means the only one delayed because of the pandemic. Missouri courts have been conducting limited operations as mandated by the state Supreme Court.

In the latest delay, lawyers on both sides of the case reportedly requested for Kavanagh’s October trial date to be postponed. Judge House then ordered the attorneys to file availability dates for February through July in 2021.

“The ability to achieve a jury that represents a cross section of the community is impaired by the pandemic,” House wrote in August. “While the court is concerned about the safety of all participants in the trial, the court is particularly concerned that it cannot guarantee the safety of the citizens who serve as sequestered jurors, or the court staff and law enforcement officers assigned to supervise the jury.”

House has now set the trial to run from July 6 to July 21 in St. Charles County Circuit Court. Kavanagh’s case was transferred to St. Charles County in March 2019.

Kavanagh is accused in the 2014 stabbing deaths of Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 7, both of Jonesburg. He also is accused of severely wounding his estranged wife, Jessica N. Powell.

Kavanagh has pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges: three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action, and single charges of first-degree domestic assault and first-degree burglary. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Kavanagh’s trial has been delayed numerous times going back several years. Prior to the pandemic, multiple cancellations resulted from difficulties and turnover within the Missouri Public Defender’s Office representing him.