The adult son of North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer was sentenced on Monday to 28 years of imprisonment related to a chaotic pursuit where he absconded from a medical facility and drove into a deputy's vehicle, resulting in the deputy's death.
Ian Cramer, age 43, entered a guilty plea in September regarding all accusations leveled against him, encompassing homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing apprehension, reckless endangerment, evading an officer, and offenses related to drug use and driving. These accusations stemmed from a pursuit and collision on December 6, 2023, which resulted in the death of Mercer County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Martin, age 53.
State District Judge Bobbi Weiler issued a sentence of 38 years, with 10 years suspended, three years of probation, and credit for over a year served in incarceration. She also incorporated recommended treatment for both addiction and mental health. However, the judge indicated that he likely would not serve the entire 28-year term. “The [state] Department of Corrections has its own policy regarding the duration of your sentence,” Weiler stated. “These are not mandatory minimums, suggesting that you will probably serve a fraction of that 28 years and then be released on parole. This will provide you with a second opportunity, one that Deputy Martin does not have, nor does his family.”
Cramer, dressed in orange and seated silently beside his public defender, offered an apology to Martin's family when asked if he wished to speak.
“I had no intention of causing any of this. It was an accident, and I sincerely hope that someday they can find it in their hearts to forgive me. I believe the most beneficial course of action for me is to go to a hospital and receive further assistance,” Ian Cramer expressed.
A significant portion of the sentencing proceedings centered on Cramer's addiction and mental health challenges. His mother, Kris Cramer, delivered a statement where she indicated that her son “has significantly damaged his brain on his own” and is grappling with a mental illness. She offered an apology and stated, “I truly feel responsible for the events of December 6, 2023.”
The Bismarck police department reported that Ian Cramer’s mother had transported him to a hospital due to concerns regarding his mental health. Court documents detail that he entered the driver’s seat of his parents’ vehicle after his mother exited, and he reversed forcefully through the closed garage door of the hospital’s ambulance bay. Subsequently, he fled from deputies when one confronted him in Hazen, approximately 70 miles from Bismarck, according to authorities.
Cramer reached speeds exceeding 100 mph and continued driving even after a tire deflation device flattened two of the vehicle's tires, as per court documents. Additional tire deflation devices were deployed, and Cramer swerved, ultimately colliding head-on with Martin’s patrol vehicle, ejecting him approximately 100 feet, authorities stated. Martin was pronounced deceased at a hospital.
Cramer initially pleaded not guilty in the homicide case in April. The initial charge was manslaughter, which was later amended to the homicide offense, carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He has been held at the McLean County Jail in Washburn on a $500,000 cash bail.
All the offenses to which he entered a guilty plea carry a maximum cumulative sentence of slightly over 38 years in prison, according to the prosecutor's sentencing brief submitted earlier in December.
In March, Ian Cramer entered a plea of 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.
Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican, has stated that his son “suffers from serious mental disorders that manifest as severe paranoia and hallucinations.”
The senator secured a comfortable reelection victory for a second term in November.