Body camera footage shows Chad Doerman being processed after police claim he killed his three young kids. (Law&Crime)
A court rejected the admission of the statement of an Ohio The father who allegedly killed his three young sons in front of his wife and daughter was not pressured by Clermont County sheriff’s investigators to confess during questioning. However, Detective Michael Ross failed to properly inform him of his rights, and should have stopped asking questions when Doerman requested a lawyer.
The defendant said, according to documents, “I’ll wait for a lawyer. I don’t know, give me a couple of days. I can talk to a lawyer and get nice good answers.”
Judge Richard P. Ferenc excluded everything from the in-office interrogation.
Doerman is accused of shooting his sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, at their home on June 15, 2023.
The facts, as the prosecution initially described them, are that Doerman lined up his sons, ages 3, 4, and 7, and killed them with a rifle — even targeting one of the boys at the Laurel Lindale Road property.
The defendant was cooperative with law enforcement at the scene, even advising them on how to safely approach the barking dog. A woman shouted. Authorities said Doerman had shot her in the hand.
“You took my life from me! My life!” she said.
The boys’ sister reportedly ran away during their father’s attack.
“Can I stand up?” Doerman asked an officer from the grass. “It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
Body camera footage later showed him hitting his head against the wall during his jail booking.
He was charged with nine counts of aggravated murder, each with three capital aggravating circumstances, eight counts of kidnapping, and four counts of felonious assault. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Ultimately, the defense achieved their goal of nullifying the confession, although Ferenc disapproved of their other arguments. For example, he concluded that Doerman’s statements to investigators were voluntary and not forced.
Also, he expressed skepticism that Doerman, while held in a police car, overheard an investigator referred to in documents as Detective Schubert say to another official, “Is that the motherf—–?”
“Yeah,” said the other official.
“Shut the door so I don’t f—— kill him,” Schubert said.
Doerman was in a police car with the air conditioner on while Schubert was six to seven feet from the vehicle, said the comment to another official, and did not address it to the defendant, the judge wrote. The statement was recorded on body cam, and Doerman did not appear to recognize Schubert later during the interrogation, the court decided.
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