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Chad Doerman (images: Law&Crime Network bodycam, Local 12/screengrab)
One day after a grand jury indicted an Ohio man for numerous crimes in the execution murders of his three young sons Clayton, Hunter and Chase, prosecutors expressed their clear intent to pursue the death penalty.
Chad Christopher Doerman, 32, was arraigned Friday morning, pleaded not guilty, and was ordered held without bond in a murder case that prosecutors have called “one of the most monstrous, craven, cowardly acts that will ever be our misfortune of seeing.”
Asked after the hearing Friday about allegations that Doerman planned the murders for months, Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve declined to go into specific detail so as not to jeopardize the capital case. He nonetheless called the family murders “an unspeakable tragedy,” and said that prosecutors would seek to punish the defendant to the fullest extent the law allows — with death.
“I can’t go into a whole lot of facts because this is a death penalty case, and my goal is to have this man executed for slaughtering these three little boys,” Tekulve said. “It is an incomprehensible act of horror that he perpetrated on this family.”
“Factually, I’ve said what I said on the record and I’m going to stick with that,” the prosecutor added. “I’ll let the facts speak for themselves. He slaughtered his 3 children in the most brutal fashion you can imagine, as I mentioned in court.”
The facts, as the prosecution has explained them thus far, are that Doerman lined up his sons, ages 3, 4, and 7, and executed them with a rifle — even hunting one of the boys down at the Laurel Lindale Road property.
In court Friday, Tekulve reportedly said that Doerman “gunned down” the 7-year-old “from behind” while the boy tried to escape and then executed the victim when he fell. He allegedly “ripped” the 3-year-old from his mother’s arms and “put a bullet in his head.”
Prosecutors said in court last week that Doerman confessed to the horrific crimes.
“There has been a full admission in this case,” prosecutor David Gast said. “The case is still new. We’re still discovering facts. But the evil horror of what we know is impossible to process. In an act of incomprehensible cruelty, the father that stands before you lined up his three young boys and executed them in his own home with a rifle. In an act of desperation, the mother at some point grabbed the gun the father was wielding to attempt to protect them.”
The prosecutor also said Doerman “confessed to what I believe is the worst crime, at least I hope, that I see in my lifetime.”
Bodycam video showed that the defendant was alarmingly calm as Clermont County sheriff’s deputies swarmed the scene on the afternoon of June 15th, a Thursday, just days before Father’s Day. Doerman was sitting on the front step of the residence with a rifle next to him as the victims lay dead.
Read Related Also: Man arrested with ‘mace or sledgehammer-type instrument’ after 3 people are found dead inside his apartment
Chad Doerman, the Clermont County man accused of murdering his 3 sons, pleads not guilty to all charges including kidnapping and aggravated murder. More later today on @LawCrimeNetwork @lawcrimenews pic.twitter.com/ROLenOoA6b
— Angenette Levy (@Angenette5) June 23, 2023
“Can I stand up?” Doerman asked the arresting authorities at the scene, insisting he wouldn’t hurt them. “It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
The victims’ wounded mother, on the other hand, cried out on a 911 call that “her babies had been shot.” She was heard on bodycam shouting that Doerman “took my life from me! My life!”
A sister of the boys’ mother, a family friend, and the New Richmond Youth Sports Association are collecting donations to support the family. The victims’ older sister Alexis was the only child to escape alive.
“My sister lost her three amazing babies yesterday. Nothing will make this better, it will never be okay. But please if you can find it in your heart to help relieve the financial burden of this tragedy, please donate. No one should have to go through this,” Rachel Brown wrote.
On Wednesday, she thanked everyone who donated.
“This loss is unimaginable but we’re choosing to remember the boys for the wonderful babies they are,” Brown added. “In regards to your amazing generosity, these funds will be used for the boys’ end-of-life celebration. From there they will continue to support my sister and my niece in the struggles they will face moving forward in a world without their tiny shadows.”
Doerman was indicted on nine counts of aggravated murder, eight counts of kidnapping, and four counts of felonious assault. Read the indictment here.
A pretrial hearing was reportedly set for July 5.
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