Father Who Killed 3 Sons Execution-Style Pleads Guilty, Avoids Death Penalty: Reports

The Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three sons execution-style last summer pleaded guilty to aggravated murder.

Doerman’s sons in a Facebook photo.

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Doerman’s sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and 3-year-old Chase were all shot and killed in June 2023.

On Friday, August 2, 33-year-old Chad Doerman appeared in front of Judge Richard Ferenc in Batavia, Ohio, in the Clermont County Common Pleas Court and pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder, according to reports from outlets including the Cincinnati Enquirer, FOX affiliate WXIX and NBC affiliate WLWT.

The Enquirer also reported that Doerman also pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault, related to crimes against his wife and step daughter on the day that the three boys were murdered.

Prosecutors have also dismissed the aggravated circumstances of the charges that could have seen Doerman sentenced to the death penalty. WXIX reported that Ferenc explained that the plea deal was agreed upon by Doerman’s surviving victims.

The Clermont County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement at the time that deputies were alerted to the killings when a woman, later identified as Doerman’s wife, called 911 and screamed that her “babies had been shot.”

Just minutes later, a driver in the area also called 911 to report that a young girl was running down the road yelling that “her father was killing everyone,” the sheriff’s office added.

Police claimed at the time that the three boys had been lined up by their father and shot. One of the children tried to run away, they added, but alleged that Doerman “hunted him down” and still shot him.

All three boys died at the scene and their mother was injured after reportedly trying to intervene. When deputies arrived to the family’s Monroe Township home, they found Doerman sitting on the steps with a rifle sitting next to him, WXIX previously reported.

Prosecutors later claimed that Doerman had planned the attack several months in advance.

The 33-year-old was first indicted in June 2023 on nine counts of aggravated murder, eight counts of kidnapping and four counts of assault in connection with the deaths of his sons, and later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Earlier this year, Doerman’s alleged confession to the murders was thrown out and deemed inadmissible after a judge ruled that police had not properly advised of his Miranda rights during questioning, PEOPLE previously reported.

“It is unmistakably clear that you will spend the rest of your life in prison,” Ferenc told Doerman in court on Friday, per the Enquirer. “There is no early release date for you.”

Ferenc then sentenced Doerman to three consecutive life sentences without the opportunity for parole, with 16 years minimum sentencing for the assault charges, the outlets reported.

According to the Enquirer, he has been held at the Clermont County Jail since his arrest in June 2023, and will be transferred to a state prison.