Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota’s adult son was given a 28-year jail sentence on Monday for a frenzied chase in which he killed a deputy by crashing into his car after escaping from a hospital.
In September, Ian Cramer, 43, entered a guilty plea to all of the counts against him, which included reckless endangerment, homicide while evading a peace officer, preventing arrest, fleeing an officer, and offenses involving drugs and driving. Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin, 53, was killed in a chase and crash on December 6, 2023, which was the subject of those accusations.
The sentence of 38 years with 10 years suspended, three years of probation, and credit for more than a year of incarceration was imposed by State District Judge Bobbi Weiler. She also included suggested mental health and addiction therapies. However, the judge stated that he probably won’t serve the entire 28 years.
“The (state) Department of Corrections has their own policy on how much time you’re going to serve,” Weiler stated. “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.”
When asked whether Martin would want to speak, Cramer, who was wearing orange and sat silently next to his public defender, apologized to his family.
“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 stated.
Cramer’s addiction and mental health received a lot of attention during the sentencing process. According to experts cited by Mercer County State’s Attorney Todd Schwarz, Ian Cramer had been suffering from the long-term consequences of “taking drugs to put himself into a mentally ill state.”
According to Schwarz, Cramer acknowledged using bath salts and methamphetamine on the day of the collision.
According to a statement given by Cramer’s mother, Kris Cramer, her son “has hurt his brain a lot on his own” and is coping with a mental illness. “I truly feel responsible for what happened on December 6 (2023),” she added in her apology.
She had taken him to a hospital due to mental health issues, according to Bismarck police. According to court filings, once his mother got out, he crawled into the driver’s seat of his parents’ car and crashed through the hospital’s ambulance bay’s closed garage door while in reverse. According to investigators, he later ran away from deputies after one of them challenged him in Hazen, which is roughly 70 miles from Bismarck.
According to court filings, Cramer reached speeds of over 100 mph and continued to drive even after two tires were destroyed by a spiked device. Authorities reported that after more spikes were laid up, Cramer swerved and struck Martin’s patrol car directly, launching him a hundred feet. At a nearby hospital, Martin was declared dead.
According to Schwarz, Martin was adored by his coworkers and will be remembered for his kindness, which was evident in his frequent check-ins with a young girl who was afraid of police and had a difficult father. Schwarz, who had known Martin since the 1990s, learned of his retirement plans a week prior to the collision.
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In April, Cramer entered a not guilty plea in the homicide case. He was first accused of manslaughter, but the accusation was eventually dropped in favor of homicide, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in jail. He is being jailed on $500,000 cash bail at the McLean County Jail in Washburn.
The prosecutor’s sentencing brief, which was submitted earlier in December, states that the maximum penalty for each of the charges he entered a guilty plea is slightly over 38 years in jail.
Ian Cramer entered a not guilty plea in March to three distinct felonies related to the events at the Bismarck hospital: theft, criminal mischief, and reckless endangerment. January is set aside for a jury trial.
His son “suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations,” according to Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer.
The senator is “somewhat disappointed that mental health is so casually dismissed both by the court and by the prosecutor,” he told reporters, adding that his family praises the cops, court, and jail.