Chad Doerman, the Ohio father who killed his three children “execution-style,” was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty and avoiding the death penalty, according to the Cermont County prosecutor, who said during the sentencing hearing that the man “will die in prison.”
Clermont County Common Pleas Judge Richard Ferenc sentenced Chad Doerman, 33, to three life terms without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the June 2023 murders of 7-year-old Clayton; 4-year-old Hunter; and 3-year-old Chase in Cincinnati.
Doerman also pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault for attacking his wife Laura Doerman and his stepdaughter.
“I will never forgive you”
“She will die in prison,” Clermont County District Attorney Mark Tekulve said. “There was really nothing, despite desperately fighting to save her children’s lives, that Laura Doerman could have done,” he added during the hearing.
Laura Doerman read a statement during the hearing, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, in which she said: “I will never in a million years forgive you for what you have done, and I hope you pay for your actions as you deserve, but I will never hate you.”
He shot his children in the head
Prosecutor Tukelve read in court how the accident occurred, where he shot his three young children execution-style. The same media outlet explained that Chad Doerman returned from work early on June 15, 2023, and took a nap with the three children at his home located in Monroe Township, southeast of Cincinnati.
When he got up, the man pulled his rifle from a safe, loaded the magazine and shot Hunter, 4, twice. Hunter’s mother, Laura Doerman, immediately came to the aid of her son, while Clayton, 7, fled out the back door, Tukelve said.
Chad Doerman followed him and fired repeatedly, wounding the boy. Laura Doerman’s 14-year-old daughter had witnessed Hunter’s killing and followed Clayton and Chad Doerman around the house. As Clayton lay wounded on the floor, she saw her stepfather approach him, firing a bullet into his head, Tukelve said.
The sister ran back into the house, grabbed Chase, and tried to flee with the 3-year-old boy, but Doerman pointed the rifle at her head and threatened to shoot her if she did not release the boy.
The teenager did as she was told, at which point the defendant reloaded the gun. After the boy ran to his mother, there was a struggle for the gun and Laura pressed her finger on the barrel.
Innocence by insanity
“He was shot in the thumb and eventually had to let go of Chase,” the prosecutor said. The defendant then “shot the boy once in the head, killing him.”
Chad Doerman answered “yes” when Judge Ferenc asked him if the prosecutor’s statement of facts was accurate.
One of Chad Doerman’s attorneys said his client had been seeking a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, and was delusional at the time of the killings.
With information from Cincinnati Enquirer
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