BISMARCK — A Bismarck man received three years of supervised probation Monday, March 31, related to incidents at Sanford Medical Center in December 2023 before a high-speed chase that caused the death of a Mercer County deputy.
Ian Cramer, the son of U.S. Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, previously pleaded guilty to charges of theft of $10,000-$50,000, criminal mischief with damages exceeding $10,000 and reckless endangerment. The first two charges carry up to 10 years in prison; the latter, up to five years.
Cramer, now 44, is serving a 28-year prison sentence for his role in the Dec. 6, 2023, death of Deputy Paul Martin.
Martin, 53, was killed when the Chevy Tahoe driven by Cramer struck his patrol vehicle head-on while Cramer was fleeing from law enforcement at speeds reportedly in excess of 100 mph on state Highway 200, roughly 3 miles west of Hazen. Martin was standing behind the vehicle after he deployed spike strips in an effort to stop Cramer's vehicle, and the resulting impact caused the vehicle to hit Martin, throwing him approximately 100 feet into a ditch.
During Monday's hearing, Assistant Burleigh County State's Attorney Gabrielle Goter recommended Cramer serve five years for each offense related to the Bismarck incident, all to run one after the other, or consecutively, to the 28-year sentence handed down after Martin's death.
"My thought process on this is it's a completely different crime to what he's already been sentenced to. It's a different city, it's a different county. There's different victims. There was major damage done to one of two major hospitals in central North Dakota," Goter said.
"At each turn, he could have stopped. He could have not furthered this criminal, or this sort of series of criminal acts, that resulted in the loss of his liberty for a substantial period of time," she said.
The Bismarck charges were filed after the Sanford Medical Center incident in which Cramer took his mother Kris’ Chevy Tahoe, which was parked inside the emergency room bay, and drove it in reverse into a closed overhead door. He destroyed the door before exiting onto a street near a construction zone.
Police Sgt. Loren Grensteiner testified Monday that a review of surveillance video showed that if a person had been walking through the bay at that time, Cramer's vehicle would have struck them. Grensteiner also testified that the surveillance video showed Kris Cramer exiting the Tahoe in the ambulance bay before Ian Cramer climbed into the driver's seat and put the vehicle in gear.
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Kris Cramer read from a prepared statement that she had brought Ian to the emergency room during what she classified as a "mental health crisis."
"I believe he needed medical help. He told me three days prior that he had gone off his medication cold turkey. He knew he needed help," she said. "Ian told me he was listening to a voice in his head. Ian told me he was going to be suicidal."
Following Martin's death on Dec. 6, Sen. Kevin Cramer in a statement said his adopted son suffers "from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations."
Documents introduced in a number of court proceedings following the Dec. 6 incidents point to a long history of drug and alcohol abuse that prosecutors in both Burleigh and Mercer counties maintain played a role in Cramer's behavior issues.
Kris Cramer asked that her son not be sentenced to any additional prison time beyond what he's already serving after being sentenced separately for the fatal Mercer County incident. She told South Central District Judge Jackson Lofgren that the 15 months of forced sobriety coupled with medication and counseling he's received while incarcerated have made positive changes in her son.
She also declined to seek any restitution for the damage to her vehicle.
Defense attorney Kevin McCabe suggested Cramer's sentences should run concurrently with the Mercer County sentence. His argument had to do with Cramer's documented mental health condition.
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"There were substantial grounds sufficient to establish a legal defense," McCabe said. "Just by the defendant's comment, he had mental health issues going on. Now we know they don't justify it, under the rule of law, but they should mitigate it at some point."
Lofgren sentenced Cramer to three years of supervised probation after he suspended 10-year prison terms for the theft and criminal mischief charges and a five-year sentence for the reckless endangerment charge. The probationary period won't begin until Cramer serves his sentence and three years of supervised probation previously imposed during a January sentencing hearing on the Mercer County charges, according to Lofgren.
"And the reason I'm doing that is that leaves a substantial amount of time hanging over your head," Lofgren said. "If you don't take that seriously, then the state could file a petition to revoke your probation. It could be brought back to court. You could be sentenced all the way up to another 25 additional years. So I think that's the correct way to handle the situation that we have here today."
Cramer was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $12,800 to Sanford.
His estimated release date from prison is June 2047, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He will be 66 years old.
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