A new judge has been assigned to oversee criminal proceedings against Shawn M. Kavanagh, who is charged with killing three people and wounding a fourth in a 2014 knife attack at a home south of Jonesburg.Ted C. House, circuit judge for Division 1 of the 11th Circuit Court in St. Charles County, was assigned the case last week after defense attorneys requested a change of judge.Kavanagh, 28, of Bellflower, is slated to be put on trial in front of a jury beginning June 17. He is being represented by the Missouri State Public Defender’s office. The defense attorneys requested a change of judge in early January.He has pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges, including multiple counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action, for the murders of Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 7, both of Jonesburg. He also is charged with severely wounding Jessica N. Powell, who had been married to Kavanagh.Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kavanagh. Four previous trial dates have been canceled for various reasons. Most recently, the trial set to begin Sept. 17, 2018, was called off because Kavanagh’s lead defense attorney had become seriously ill.Under Missouri Supreme Court rules, any party in a criminal trial may request a new judge without having to provide a reason for the change. The court is obligated to grant the request as long as it is made within 10 days of a trial judge being designated, or within 10 days of the initial pleading.Although Kavanagh’s case has been in the court system since February 2014, a new trial judge was designated Dec. 31, 2018. Recently elected Judge Jason H. Lamb was sworn into office as Warren County’s presiding judge at the end of December, and inherited the felony cases of the late Judge Wes Dalton, including Kavanagh’s case.Kavanagh’s attorneys submitted their request for a new judge eight days after Lamb was assigned to the case.The judge now overseeing the case, Ted House, was elected as a St. Charles Circuit Court judge in 2004. House is no stranger to serious felony trials. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports House’s recent trials include a September 2017 case against a father who allowed his 2-year-old son to die of overheating while he and the boy’s mother were on meth, and a February 2018 manslaughter trial for a man accused of causing an accident that killed a highway patrol trooper.

Shawn Kavanagh, shown here after his arrest on Feb. 14, 2014.