A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his three young sons at their Ohio home last year.
DETAILS OF THE CRIME
Chad Doerman, 33, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder and two counts of felonious assault for injuring his former wife and stepdaughter during the June 2023 incident.
Clermont County Judge Karen Kalifut on Friday, August 2, handed down the sentence, ordering Doerman to serve three consecutive life terms for the deaths of 7-year-old Clayton Doerman, 4-year-old Hunter Doerman, and 3-year-old Chase Doerman.
ADDITIONAL SENTENCES
He received an additional 16 years for the assaults on his ex-wife Laura Doerman and stepdaughter.
Prosecutor Mark Tekulve had originally planned to seek the death penalty for Doerman but cited the ongoing trauma experienced by the surviving family members as the reason for pursuing the life sentence instead.
‘My job, as I saw it this week, was to relieve them of that additional agony,’ Tekulve told reporters after the sentencing.
The murders occurred on June 15, 2023, at the family’s home in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus.
COURT HEARD
According to prosecutors, Doerman admitted to planning the killings and chasing down one of the boys in a field after the child tried to flee.
Defence attorneys had argued that Doerman was struggling with severe mental illness at the time of the crimes.
In a statement read aloud in court, Laura Doerman, the children’s mother and the ex-wife of the defendant, expressed the immense grief and devastation she has experienced.
