Senator’s son sentenced to 28 years for killing a North Dakota deputy during a car chase

STANTON, N.D. (AP) — The adult son of North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer was sentenced to serve 28 years in prison Monday in connection with a wild chase in which he fled from a hospital and drove into a deputy’s vehicle, killing the deputy.

Ian Cramer, 43, pleaded guilty in September to all of the charges against him, including homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and drug- and driving-related offenses. Those charges related to a Dec. 6, 2023, chase and crash that killed Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin, 53.

State District Judge Bobbi Weiler handed down the sentence of 38 years with 10 years suspended, three years of probation and credit for over a year served in jail. She also included recommended treatment for addiction and mental health. But he likely won’t serve the full 28 years, the judge said.

“The (state) Department of Corrections has their own policy on how much time you’re going to serve,” Weiler said. “These are not mandatory minimums, which means that you’re probably going to serve a small portion of that 28 years and be out on parole, so that’ll … give you an opportunity to have a second chance that Deputy Martin does not have, nor does his family have.”

Cramer, who wore orange and sat quietly next to his public defender, apologized to Martin’s family when asked if he would like to speak.

“I had no intention to do any of this. It was an accident, and I just hope that someday they can forgive me, and I think the best thing for me is to go to a hospital and just get more help,” Ian Cramer said.

Much of the sentencing focused on Cramer’s addiction and mental health. Mercer County State’s Attorney Todd Schwarz, citing doctors, said Ian Cramer had been experiencing long-term effects of “taking drugs to put himself into a mentally ill state.”

Cramer admitted to using methamphetamine and bath salts the day of the crash, Schwarz said.

Cramer’s mother, Kris Cramer, read a statement in which she said her son “has hurt his brain a lot on his own” and is dealing with a mental illness. She apologized and said, “I really do feel responsible for what happened on Dec. 6 (2023).”

Bismarck police said she had taken him to a hospital because of mental health concerns. Court documents say he crawled into the driver seat of his parents’ vehicle after his mother got out and smashed in reverse through the closed garage door of the hospital’s ambulance bay. He later fled from deputies when one confronted him in Hazen, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Bismarck, authorities said.

Cramer hit speeds of over 100 mph (160 kph) and kept going even after a spiked device flattened two tires, according to court documents. More spikes were set up, and Cramer swerved and then crashed head-on into Martin’s patrol vehicle and launched him about 100 feet (30 meters), authorities said. Martin was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Schwarz said Martin was loved by his colleagues and will be remembered for his kindly nature, which showed in his regular check-ins with a young girl who had a troubled father and a fear of officers. A week before the crash, Martin shared his retirement plans with Schwarz, who had known him since the 1990s.

Cramer pleaded not guilty in the homicide case in April. He was initially charged with manslaughter, later changed to the homicide offense, which carries a maximum of 20 years in prison. He has been held at the McLean County Jail in Washburn on $500,000 cash bail.

All of the offenses to which he pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of just over 38 years in prison, according to the prosecutor’s sentencing brief filed earlier in December.

In March, Ian Cramer pleaded not guilty to separate felony charges of theft, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment in connection with the events at the Bismarck hospital. A jury trial is scheduled for January.

Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican, has said his son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations.”

The senator told reporters his family commends the officers, court and jail, but said he is “somewhat disappointed that mental health is so casually dismissed both by the court and by the prosecutor.”

“But I don’t think there’s any question there’s not one person, including Ian, who doesn’t know that they were his choices that led to this, whatever they may be, under whatever condition, choices that go back many years,” said Kevin Cramer, who handily won reelection to a second term in November.

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