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Thread: Shawn Kavanagh Sentenced to LWOP in 2014 MO Triple Murder

  1. #1
    Senior Member CnCP Addict Stro07's Avatar
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    Shawn Kavanagh Sentenced to LWOP in 2014 MO Triple Murder


    Stabbing victims Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, Lexy Vandiver, 29, and Lexy's son Mason, 7.



    Shawn Kavanagh


    Suspect in triple murder granted change of venue

    The trial of a man facing the death penalty in a triple homicide case will be held in Montgomery County.

    A change of venue was granted to transfer the case from Warren County.

    Shawn Kavanagh, 23, of Bellflower, is scheduled to make his next court appearance on Dec. 3. Kavanagh has been charged with nine felony counts, including three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action, first-degree domestic assault and first-degree burglary stemming from the Feb. 14 attack.

    He is accused of murdering Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, and Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 8, both of Jonesburg.

    He also is charged with critically injuring his estranged wife Jescie Powell Kavanagh, 27.

    In July, Warren County Prosecutor Jenny Bartlett announced she was seeking the death penalty in the murder case.

    Kavanagh entered a not guilty plea at an arraignment hearing held in August.

    Police said Shawn Kavanagh went to a home in the 26000 block of Humber Road, located off Highway Y south of Jonesburg, at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 14. Jescie Kavanagh was staying there with Lexy Vandiver, a co-worker at New Florence Care Center, and her two children.

    After being asked to leave, Shawn Kavanagh went to his car and returned with a knife and began attacking the women and the boy, police allege.

    Fifer, another co-worker, had stopped by the home to check on Kavanagh shortly before the attack occurred, family members said.

    Shawn Kavanagh placed a 911 call at 7:51 p.m. and told the dispatcher that he had just stabbed his wife and killed several people. When police arrived, they found him covered in blood, they said. Kavanagh told police that he had just killed the people inside the home.

    Lexy Vandiver and Fifer were found stabbed to death. Jescie Kavanagh was airlifted to a Columbia hospital. Mason Vandiver, who suffered multiple stab wounds, died four days later at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis.

    Vandiver’s 18-month-old daughter was found unharmed inside the home.

    Shawn Kavanagh was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in January. The couple was married for 10 months before separating three weeks prior to the Valentine’s Day attack, family members said.

    http://www.warrencountyrecord.com/lo...9ec8cc99d.html

  2. #2
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Prosecutors seeking death penalty in Jonesburg triple killing

    MONTGOMERY CO., Mo. - Prosecutors are now seeking the death penalty against the man accused in a 2014 triple killing near Jonesburg.

    Shawn Kavanagh is accused of going on a stabbing spree while looking for his estranged wife on Valentine's Day in 2014.

    The woman survived, but an 8-year-old boy and two others were killed.

    Kavanagh's next court appearance is scheduled for June 25.

    http://www.abc17news.com/news/prosec...lling/31901934
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
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    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    September 23, 2016

    Murder Case Is Moved Back to Warren County - Man Set to Stand Trial in 2014 Triple Homicide

    A man accused of murdering three people and injuring a fourth in Warren County has been granted a second change of venue.

    The case of Shawn Kavanagh, 25, of Bellflower, previously was moved from Warren County to Montgomery County on a change venue.

    During a hearing in July, both sides in the capital murder case agreed to move the case back to Warren County for trial, according to online court records.

    Thursday, Sept. 15, Kavanagh’s case was returned to Warren County Circuit Court. The next court event will be a case review scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 4.

    Also in July, it was agreed that the prosecutor would file an order with the Missouri Supreme Court to select a jury panel from Cape Girardeau County to hear Kavanagh’s case. The jurors will be sequestered in Warren County during the trial.

    Two weeks have been set aside for the trial which is scheduled to begin Jan. 9, 2017.

    Kavanagh remains jailed in Warren County on multiple charges in the stabbing deaths of three people during a brutal Valentine’s Day attack Feb. 14, 2014, at a home south of Jonesburg. A fourth person was critically injured in the attack.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kavanagh. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    The man faces nine felony charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action, first-degree domestic assault and first-degree burglary for the murders of Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, and Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 8, both of Jonesburg.

    He also is charged with critically injuring his estranged wife Jescie Powell Kavanagh.

    http://www.emissourian.com/local_new...21766aa80.html
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

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    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    June 15, 2017

    Murder trial postponed, Kavanagh case moved to September 2018

    The trial of a man charged in a horrific triple murder has been pushed back almost a year.

    This is the third time the trial date has been moved for Shawn Kavanagh, 26, of Bellflower, who is accused in the stabbing deaths of two women and a child in a Valentine’s Day attack February 14, 2014, at a home south of Jonesburg.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kavanagh. He has pleaded not guilty to nine felony charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, four counts of armed criminal action, first-degree domestic assault and first-degree burglary, for the murders of Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, and Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 8, both of Jonesburg.

    He also is charged with critically injuring his estranged wife, Jescie Powell Kavanagh.

    Shawn Kavanagh is being represented by two attorneys from the Missouri Public Defender’s Office, who say they have not had enough time to prepare for his trial.

    He originally was set to be tried Jan. 9, 2017, but the trial date was pushed back to April 24, and then to Oct. 16. The trial now has been moved to Sept. 17, 2018, and is scheduled for five days.

    Kavanagh is represented by new attorneys this year, Robert Lundt and Tara Crane, both of St. Louis County. The attorneys say their case load combined with staffing issues at the public defender’s office have prevented them from thoroughly investigating Kavanagh’s case.

    “Neither Mr. Lundt, nor Ms. Crane has had adequate time to prepare for Mr. Kavanagh’s trial. It is not possible for an attorney to try a death penalty case in less than six months,” Lundt stated in a motion for continuance asking Judge Wes Dalton to postpone the trial.

    Compounding the situation, Crane does not have previous capital trial experience and Lundt has never taken a capital trial to its verdict, the motion states.

    On top of defending Kavanagh at trial, the attorneys also need to prepare for the aftermath of a guilty verdict, in which case they would have to present an argument for sparing Kavanagh’s life.

    That means conducting a deep background investigation of Kavanagh’s history and mental health, searching for any factors that could somehow mitigate the severity of the crimes. The public defenders have identified more than 50 people to interview for that purpose and have not yet contacted any of them, according to the motion for continuance.

    “Beginning trial at the date currently scheduled (Oct. 16), while investigation and preparation remains to be done in a case that is neither factually nor legally simple or straightforward, would deny the defendant the basic tools of an adequate defense,” the motion states.

    Dalton granted the motion for continuance on June 6. Kavanagh is in custody at the Warren County Jail.

    Police said Shawn Kavanagh went to the home in the 26000 block of Humber Road, located off Highway Y, at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 14, 2014. Jescie Kavanagh was staying there with Lexy Vandiver, a co-worker at New Florence Care Center, and her two children.

    After being asked to leave, Shawn Kavanagh went to his car and returned with a knife and began attacking the women and the boy, police allege.

    Tara Fifer, another co-worker, had stopped by the home to check on Jescie Kavanagh shortly before the attack occurred, family members said.

    Shawn Kavanagh placed a 911 call at 7:51 p.m. and told the dispatcher that he had just stabbed his wife and killed several people. Lexy Vandiver and Fifer were found stabbed to death. Jescie Kavanagh was airlifted to a Columbia hospital. Mason Vandiver, who suffered multiple stab wounds, died four days later at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis.

    Vandiver’s 18-month-old daughter was found unharmed inside the home.

    Shawn Kavanagh was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault a month prior to the deadly attack.

    The couple were married for 10 months before separating three weeks prior to the Valentine’s Day attack, family members said.

    http://www.warrencountyrecord.com/lo...fc70fa13f.html

  5. #5
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    Triple murder death penalty case in Warren County sealed weeks before trial

    A triple murder case in which Warren County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty has been hidden from the public a little more than two weeks before trial.

    The trial date for Shawn Kavanagh is set for Sept. 17. Jury selection begins Sept. 12 before Presiding Judge Wesley Dalton. Jury summonses have been mailed out, prompting Warren County Circuit Court to seal the case entirely on Case.Net, Missouri's online court system.

    Three days of jury selection among at least 300 prospective jurors is set to start Sept. 12 in Cape Girardeau County Circuit Court, according to Tara Crane, Kavanagh's public defender.

    If the case weren’t hidden, prospective jurors could still only find Kavanagh’s case number, charges and docket entries on Case.Net. They still wouldn’t get access to the filed court documents unless they look up the case at a county courthouse’s public computer terminal.

    Warren County Prosecutor Kelly King and Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner are pursuing the death penalty against Kavanagh.

    Dalton, the presiding judge, issued an order this week sealing the case, his court clerk said Wednesday. But the explanation wasn't available because that order, too, is sealed.

    A new Missouri Supreme Court rule took effect July 1 aimed at making harder for judges to seal pending court cases from the public without explanation. The rule said judges must set forth “specific written findings supporting a compelling justification to restrict access,” echoing a 2001 Supreme Court case.

    Kavanagh, 27, of Bellflower, Mo., is set to stand trial on three counts of first-degree murder and other charges in the February 2014 stabbing deaths of Lexy Vandiver, 29, her 7-year-old son Mason and a visiting co-worker Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, Mo. Kavanagh is also charged with stabbing and wounding his estranged wife.

    The night of the killings, Kavanagh called 911 and told police that he had stabbed his wife and killed several other people at a home in the 26000 block of Humber Road, off Highway Y, south of Jonesburg, Mo.

    Kavanagh was covered in blood when Warren County deputies arrived; Fifer and Vandiver were found dead from multiple stab wounds. Vandiver’s 18-month-old daughter was found unharmed inside the home. Mason died about four days later.

    Jessica Kavanagh, Fifer and Vandiver worked together at a nursing home in New Florence, Mo., authorities said. Jessica Kavanagh had been living temporarily with Vandiver, and Fifer had been visiting the two.

    https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...736472688.html
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    Triple murder death penalty case in Warren County postponed

    The trial in a triple murder case in which Warren County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty has been postponed.

    The trial for Shawn Kavanagh had been set for this week. Jury selection was to begin Sept. 12 before Presiding Judge Wesley Dalton.

    However, one of Kavanaugh's lawyers, Robert Lundt, asked for a postponement because he was too ill to continue.

    A hearing was set for Oct. 2 to set a new trial date. The case, which had been sealed on Case.Net, Missouri's online court records system, has now been unsealed.

    Warren County Prosecutor Kelly King and Assistant Attorney General Kevin Zoellner are pursuing the death penalty against Kavanagh.

    Kavanagh, 27, of Bellflower, Mo., is set to stand trial on three counts of first-degree murder and other charges in the February 2014 stabbing deaths of Lexy Vandiver, 29, her 7-year-old son Mason and a visiting co-worker Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, Mo. Kavanagh is also charged with stabbing and wounding his estranged wife.

    The night of the killings, Kavanagh called 911 and told police that he had stabbed his wife and killed several other people at a home in the 26000 block of Humber Road, off Highway Y, south of Jonesburg, Mo.

    Kavanagh was covered in blood when Warren County deputies arrived; Fifer and Vandiver were found dead from multiple stab wounds. Vandiver’s 18-month-old daughter was found unharmed inside the home. Mason died about four days later.

    Jessica Kavanagh, Fifer and Vandiver worked together at a nursing home in New Florence, Mo., authorities said. Jessica Kavanagh had been living temporarily with Vandiver, and Fifer had been visiting the two.

    https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...7514c13a0.html
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  7. #7
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Trial for triple murder suspect delayed until next year

    Warren County Record

    The trial for a man accused of killing three people and critically wounding a fourth in a 2014 stabbing has been pushed back until June 2019.

    Warren County Circuit Court records show Shawn M. Kavanagh, 28, Bellflower, is set to go before a jury beginning June 17, 2019, in a trial that is scheduled to last more than a week. Four previous trial dates have been canceled for various reasons.

    Kavanagh is accused in the stabbing deaths of two women and a child, as well as critically injuring his estranged wife, during the attack on Feb. 14, 2014, at a home south of Jonesburg.

    The most recent delay in criminal proceedings against Kavanagh was when a trial set to begin last month was canceled because defense attorney Robert W. Lundt reportedly became seriously ill.

    Lundt at the time told the court that he had not slept in almost two days and was seeking medical treatment for severe stomach issues. Lundt stated that he would be providing ineffective assistance of counsel if the case proceeded to trial. Ineffective assistance from an accused person’s attorney is grounds to appeal a courtroom verdict.

    Warren County Presiding Judge Wes Dalton ordered the trial to be canceled, against the objection of the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, records state.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Kavanagh. 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, and 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.

    A previous delay in the trial for Kavanagh was also attributed to defense attorneys. A trial date in October 2017 was delayed by almost a year after Kavanagh was assigned new attorneys from the Missouri Public Defenders Office, who said they had not had enough time to prepare for the trial and a possible sentencing phase afterward.

    If Kavanagh is found guilty, it would be his attorney’s job to present an argument for sparing his life. The defense team had sought time to conduct a deep background investigation into Kavanagh’s history and mental health, searching for any factors that could mitigate the severity of the crimes.

    Leading up to the now-canceled trial date this September, court records indicate the defense team requested subpoenas for around 20 witnesses.

    Kavanagh remains in custody at the Warren County Jail. By the time Kavanagh sees a jury, he will have been incarcerated for at least five years awaiting trial.

    http://www.warrencountyrecord.com/lo...5dd789344.html

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    Kavanagh murder trial moved to October

    By Adam Rollins
    Warren County Record

    The trial of Shawn Kavanagh, the man accused of killing three people in Warren County in 2014, has been delayed until October in the wake of COVID-19.

    “It would be irresponsible and virtually impossible to select and impanel a jury ... during the current public health emergency,” St. Charles Circuit Judge Ted C. House wrote in an order delaying the trial until Oct. 5.

    Kavanagh’s trial had been set to begin May 4, with the initial jury selection process beginning the first Monday of April. That bumps up against a Missouri Supreme Court order shuttering courtrooms across the state until April 3, and possibly longer.

    With the new trial date in October, the initial jury selection process will begin Sept. 8 and 9. Judge House has ordered that 500 people be screened as potential jurors by filling out a questionnaire.

    Final jury selection and the trial itself are expected to take about three weeks, beginning Oct. 5.

    “This is the soonest practical date for trial based on the schedules of counsel and the likelihood of being able to impanel a jury,” House wrote.

    Kavanagh, 29, of Bellflower, is accused in the 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. Powel.

    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, often due to difficulties and turnover within the Missouri Public Defender’s Office representing him. His case was transferred to the St. Charles Circuit Court in March 2019.

    https://warrencountyrecord.com/conte...-moved-october

  9. #9
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    Edited:

    St. Louis-area death penalty trials loom as courts look to reopen

    By Joel Currier
    St. Louis Today

    As state courts across the St. Louis region begin to reopen as COVID-19 vaccination rates rise, at least two circuit courts are preparing to summon thousands of potential jurors for four separate death penalty trials.


    About 3,500 jury summonses and questionnaires will soon go out to St. Louis residents ahead of the triple murder trial of Eric Lawson, which is scheduled to begin April 12 and wrap up in the first week of May.


    "We have never sent out this many," Jury Supervisor Joanne Martin said. Before the pandemic, she said, her office would mail an average of 1,300 to 1,500 summonses for all trials scheduled in a given week.


    Martin said the circuit has been averaging a 17 to 21% response rate on jury summonses during the pandemic, which has suspended all jury trials for nearly a year. Before COVID-19, the typical response rate to jury summonses in St. Louis was closer to 30%.

    Trials are tentatively scheduled to resume the week of March 15.


    She also expressed concern over widespread delays in mail delivery that could affect responses to summonses and questionnaires. Just this week, her office received a batch of responses dating back to early December.

    "It might end up being a real problem," Martin said.

    Jury selection is scheduled for July 6 in a second penalty trial, that of Shawn Kavanagh, 30, who was charged in Warren County in 2014 with murdering his wife's co-worker, Lexy Vandiver, 29, who lived in Kavanagh's home, her 7-year-old son Mason, and a visiting co-worker, Tara Lynn Fifer, 22. After his trial in 2018 was postponed, prosecutors sought and received a change of venue. About 500 summonses will be mailed ahead of that trial, which was moved to St. Charles County.


    https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...40e40bb9c.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #10
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    Kavanagh trial postponed after death of lead attorney's son

    By Adam Rollins
    Warren County Record

    In the ongoing saga of events forestalling the criminal trial of triple murder suspect Shawn M. Kavanagh, the latest is the tragic and untimely death of the son of Kavanagh’s lead defense attorney.

    Kavanagh’s case, in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, had been set to go to trial in November.

    In mid-August, lead attorney David Kenyon was informed by police that his 31-year-old son had been struck and killed by a vehicle, according to court documents submitted by co-defense counsel Anthony Davidson. Kenyon and his son lived together, and a burial was held on Aug. 27, Davidson wrote.

    “Though Mr. Kenyon has tentatively returned to his position (from bereavement leave), he still suffers from profound mental and emotional distress due to the tragic and unexpected nature of his son’s death. As a result, Mr. Kenyon is at present unable to effectively perform the duties which are required of him in order to prepare and conduct a death penalty trial in the role of lead counsel,” Davidson wrote in a request for St. Charles Judge Rebeca Navarro-McKelvey to postpone the trial.

    Davidson added that although he himself has worked for the public defender’s office representing Kavanagh for more than a year, he has not previously taken a capital punishment case to a jury trial, and that recognized standards for a death penalty case call for at least two attorneys representing the defendant.

    Because of those factors, failing to delay the trial would violate Mr. Kavanagh’s constitutional rights to effective assistance of counsel and due process, Davidson wrote.

    Judge Navarro-McKelvey granted the request for postponement Sept. 13, overruling objections from prosecutors on the case. The judge ordered both sides to determine the availability of witnesses for a trial date in February or March 2023.

    Kavanagh’s trial has been chronically postponed for half a decade. He has been in jail for more than eight years after a February 2014 knife attack that killed two women and a child, and severely wounded a third woman.

    Prior reasons for trial cancellations include:

    • Multiple cancellations due to the inability to safely have hundreds of jury candidates in the courthouse during COVID.
    • A defense attorney became pregnant and was due for delivery near the date of a trial (and has since left the defense team).
    • Multiple instances of defense team turnover without enough time for a new attorney to prepare for a death penalty trial.
    • A prior lead attorney contracted a severe stomach ailment just days before a trial date.

    Kavanagh faces a total of nine felony charges for the killing of Tara Lynn Fifer, 22, of Montgomery City, Lexy Vandiver, 29, and her son, Mason Vandiver, 7, both of Jonesburg; and for the assault of his estranged wife, Jessica N. Powell. The attack took place at a home south of Jonesburg.

    Kavanagh has pleaded not guilty to the charges, with defense attorneys previously indicating their intention to make a case for sparing Kavanagh from the death penalty.

    https://www.warrencountyrecord.com/s...neys-son,40317
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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