A court tossed out an Ohio father’s confession to allegedly killing his three young sons in front of his wife and daughter. Though Clermont County sheriff’s investigators did not force the defendant, Chad Christopher Doerman, 32, to confess during an interrogation, Detective Michael Ross did not properly warn him of his Miranda rights and should have ceased asking questions once Doerman requested a counsel.
“I’ll wait for a lawyer,” the defendant stated, according to the documents. “I don’t know; let me a few days. I can talk to a lawyer and get great, positive replies.”
Judge Richard P. Ferenc dismissed everything from the in-office interrogation.
On June 15, 2023, Doerman allegedly shot his three boys, Clayton, Hunter, and Chase, at their home.
The prosecution first stated that Doerman lined up his three, four, and seven-year-old sons and executed them with a rifle, even hunting one of the youngsters down at the Laurel Lindale Road property.
The defendant acted politely to law enforcement officers who came on the scene, even advising them on how to approach the barking dog safely. A woman yelled out. Authorities claimed Doerman shot her in the hand.
“You took away my life!” “My life!” she exclaimed.
The boys’ sister allegedly fled during their father’s fury.
“Can I stand up?” Doerman questioned a cop on the grass. “It’s kind of uncomfortable.”
Body cam footage later saw him beating his head against the wall during his jail booking.
He was indicted on nine charges of aggravated murder, each with three capital aggravating circumstances, eight counts of kidnapping, and four counts of felonious assault. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.
The defense ultimately obtained what they desired by removing the confession, but Ferenc was skeptical of their other reasons. For example, he concluded that Doerman’s remarks to investigators were voluntary and not coerced.
He also questioned Doerman’s claim that, when detained in a cruiser, he overheard an investigator named in documents as Detective Schubert say to another official, “Is that the motherf—-?”
“Yeah,” the other official replied.
“Shut the door so I don’t f—— kill him,” Schubert stated.
Doerman was in a cruiser with the air conditioner turned on while Schubert was six to seven feet away, and he made the comment to another official rather than the defendant, according to the judge. The statement was recorded on body camera, and Doerman showed no signs of recognizing Schubert later during the interview, the court decided.