ST. LOUIS – The man accused of killing a St. Louis police officer will have to wait until spring for his day in court.

The trial of Thomas Kinworthy was expected to begin Tuesday in St. Louis Circuit Court, but circumstances forced the presiding judge to delay proceedings.

The St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office filed for an emergency motion of continuance after the prosecutor got sick. The judge initially agreed to postpone the trial until Wednesday, but defense attorneys claimed one of their expert witnesses would not be available until Friday.

The judge told both sets of attorneys to select one of four dates to start the trial: March 15, April 5, April 12, or April 19.

Kinworthy, 47, was charged with first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree assault, one count of lawful possession of a firearm, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of resisting arrest, and four counts of armed criminal action in the August 2020 shooting death of Officer Tamarris Bohannon.

Bohannon, 29, had been on the force for more than 3.5 years when he was killed. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Police and prosecutors claim Bohannon and his partner responded to a shots-fired call near a home on Hartford Street near Tower Grove Park in south St. Louis. A couple who called 911 said they were on the phone with a dispatcher. Kinworthy entered their home, held them at gunpoint, and told them to hang up. The couple escaped out a back door and spoke with Bohannon.

When Bohannon walked around to the front of the home, investigators claim Kinworthy shot him in the head with a 9 mm handgun from a second-story window inside that couple’s home. Bohannon’s partner was shot in the leg. The SWAT team arrested Kinworthy following a lengthy 12-hour standoff.

Bohannon died the next day at a local hospital. His partner survived.