Defense attorneys for an Ohio man accused of fatally shooting his three sons execution-style last summer and allegedly admitting to the killings shortly after his arrest believe authorities violated his constitutional rights by questioning him without a lawyer.
A motion to suppress evidence was filed by Chad Doerman’s attorneys in Clermont County court this month. They claim their client’s request for a lawyer following his arrest on June 15, 2023, was rejected, and investigators from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office continued to question him for several hours, during which Doerman allegedly confessed to the killings, according to the court filing cited by WCPO-TV and Fox 19.
Doerman’s attorneys stated in the motion they want everything he said during his “entire interrogation” thrown out “because the Detectives violated Mr. Doerman’s constitutional rights from the outset,” Fox 19 reported.
According to WCPO-TV, the motion alleges that a detective read Doerman his Miranda rights and asked if he understood, to which Doerman responded “yep” and nodded yes.
“Mr. Doerman is never presented with a written copy of his rights,” his attorneys state in the motion, per the outlets. “The Detective never asks Mr. Doerman if he wants to waive those rights; he never asks Mr. Doerman to sign a waiver of those rights; he never obtains a constitutionally valid waiver of those rights.”
The motion further states that Doerman requested a lawyer minutes later and during the three hours of questioning that followed, his request was allegedly not mentioned again by investigators, according to the outlets.
Defense attorneys also accused authorities of inserting themselves “into what should have been private, confidential discussions between Mr. Doerman and his health care providers [and] coerced Mr. Doerman into submitting to their presence,” Fox 19 reported.
Doerman was indicted last summer on nine counts of aggravated murder, eight counts of kidnapping and four counts of assault in connection with the June 15, 2023, deaths of his three sons, according to the Associated Press, Fox 19, and WCPO Cincinnati.
He has pleaded not guilty and is expected to go on trial in July, WCPO, WXIX and WLWT reported last fall.
Doerman allegedly lined up the boys — later identified as Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3 — and shot them execution-style, the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office previously claimed in a release.
