Attorneys for Chad Doerman have filed a motion asking the death penalty be taken off the table in their clients case, citing “serious mental health illness at the time of the offense,” according to various news reports.
Doerman is accused of killing his three sons at their home in Monroe Township on June 15, 2023.
Ohio law states that a person can’t be executed if they’re proven to have been suffering from a mental illness at the time of a crime. They can however be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The motion filed by Doerman’s legal team said that two experts have already agreed that their client was suffering from “severe mental illness” on the day of the alleged crimes. These experts however did not agree on whether he knew what he was doing was wrong, according to various news reports.
Doerman’s attorneys agreed to submit an expert’s report regarding his mental health by June 3, 2024, according to various news reports.
His trial will likely now be pushed back until 2025, and a death penalty hearing is now scheduled for August of this year.