- Chad Doerman, 33, was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the shooting deaths of his three young children in Ohio last year.
- He received three consecutive life sentences after pleading guilty to aggravated murder charges and an additional 16 years for felonious assault related to injuries inflicted on his ex-wife and stepdaughter.
- Prosecutor Mark Tekulve had initially sought the death penalty but decided against it to ease the trauma of surviving family members.
A man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of his three young children in their Ohio home last year.
On Friday, a Clermont County judge sentenced Chad Doerman, 33, to three consecutive life terms after pleading guilty to aggravated murder charges. He was also sentenced to an additional 16 years on two counts of felony assault for injuring his ex-wife and stepdaughter.
Prosecutor Mark Tekulve had originally vowed to seek the death penalty for the June 15, 2023, killings of Clayton Doerman, 7, Hunter Doerman, 4, and Chase Doerman, 3, in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus.
Judge says Ohio father's confession to murdering his three young children can't be used in court
But on Friday, she cited the trauma that surviving family members “experienced that day and continue to experience daily.”
Chad Doerman, who appears in each of these images from body camera video and a booking photo, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of his three young children in their Ohio home last year. (Clermont County Sheriff's Office, AP Newsroom)
“My job, as I saw it this week, was to relieve them of that additional agony,” he told reporters on Friday.
Prosecutors previously said Doerman, who was arrested after he was found sitting in the driveway of the home, admitted planning the killings and chasing one of the boys into a field after the boy tried to run away. Defense attorneys had argued that Doerman suffered from severe mental illness.
OHIO FATHER ACCUSED OF EXECUTING HIS CHILDREN 'IN COLD BLOOD' IS CHARGED ON 21 COUNTS AFTER A TANGLED TRIPLE MURDER
Laura Doerman, the children's mother and the defendant's ex-wife, cried as a prosecutor read in court a statement from her in which she said her life had been “taken away and destroyed.”
“I would do anything to push them on the swing, cover them one more time and hear their little ways of saying 'I love you,'” she said. “… I have anger, frustration and so much sadness. The pain will never go away because it's all the love left and it has nowhere to go.”
In a separate statement issued through prosecutors after the sentencing, he said he was “in complete agreement” with the resolution of the case.
“No punishment can bring my children back to me,” she wrote. “Being assured that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars is the best thing for my family.”
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The prosecutor said he plans to release more details about the case at a news conference Monday. Laura Doerman thanked prosecutors and first responders and asked for privacy, saying she and the family “cry every day” for the children. But she also asked that people remember the children as they were before the events of that day.
“Remember them as the three little boys who loved fishing, go-karting and swimming,” he said. “Remember them as the little boys who were always on the baseball diamonds or running around outside. Remember them as the boys who loved to have fun and were inseparable from each other.”
