An Ohio father who executed his three sons at their Monroe Township home last year avoided the death penalty on Friday with a guilty plea.

Instead, Chad Doerman, 33, was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the aggravated murders of Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, on June 15, 2023, WXIX reported.

“He will die in prison,” Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said.

Doerman also pleaded guilty to two counts of felonious assault for attacking his ex-wife and former stepdaughter.

Judge Richard Ferenc explained that the surviving victims had agreed to the plea agreement. Ferenc sentenced Doerman to three life sentences, to be served consecutively, WLWT said.

Laura Doerman, the boys’ mother, provide an emotional statement, read by a victim’s advocate in court. No punishment, she said, would bring the three murdered boys back.

“Having a guarantee that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars is what is best for my family,” the statement reads.

She asked that her children be remembered “as the three little boys who loved fishing, go-carting, and swimming.”

“Remember them as the little boys who were always at the baseball fields or running around outside,” she wrote. “Remember them as the boys who love to have fun and were inseparable from one another. Their lives are not only about what happened to them — they are so much more that that.”

What did happen to the boys won’t be easily forgotten. As CrimeOnline previously reported, Doerman got off work early and walked around the home with a Bible while mumbling, “Chad knows what’s right.” The boys’ mother told Doerman that he was scaring her — to which Doerman responded that he was “just kidding” and “just playing” before going to the master bedroom to lie down.

Prosecutors said the mother and Hunter went into the bedroom with Doerman because they did not want him to be alone. Shortly after that, Doerman got out of bed, retrieved a rifle, and shot his 4-year-old son twice in the head.The teenage stepdaughter heard the gunshot and ran into the bedroom, witnessing Doerman kill Hunter.

She ran from the home to seek help, and Doerman began chasing Clayton, ultimately shooting him numerous times, again with the stepdaughter witnessing the murder.

Then the teen ran back into the house and grabbed 3-year-old Chase. Doerman saw her running with the boy and chased them, threatening to shoot the girl if she didn’t put down the boy.  She did, and Doerman aimed his gun at the boy, but he was out of ammunition.

Laura Doerman came out of the house at that point, and Chase ran to his mother, who tried to get the gun away from her husband. He had reloaded by that time, and when she put her thumb over the barrel, he fired and she dropped the toddler.

Doerman then pointed his gun at Chase and “executed him,” the prosecutor said in court Friday.

He was sitting on his front porch when deputies arrived and arrested him.

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[Featured image: The Doerman sons/Facebook]