The adult son of U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer pleaded not guilty Wednesday to homicide and other charges in connection with a Dec. 6 crash that killed a North Dakota sheriff’s deputy.

Ian Cramer (McLean County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

Ian Cramer, 43, waived his preliminary hearing and entered his not guilty plea to felony charges of homicide while fleeing a peace officer, preventing arrest, reckless endangerment and fleeing an officer, as well as three misdemeanor drug charges and other low-level offenses of driving under suspension and marijuana possession.

A jury trial is scheduled for July. Cramer was initially charged with manslaughter, which was subsequently upgraded to the homicide count.

Ian Cramer’s court appearance lasted just a few minutes. He answered yes and no to procedural questions from state District Judge Bobbi Weiler. He briefly conferred with his public defender outside the courtroom after the hearing, then entered an elevator with two sheriff’s deputies.

Bismarck police said Ian Cramer’s mother 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. Court documents say he later fled from deputies when one confronted him in Hazen, about 70 miles from Bismarck.

Cramer hit speeds over 100 mph 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 Mercer County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin’s patrol vehicle and launched him about 100 feet, authorities said. Martin, 53, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Martin with his retired K9 Goliath. (Mercer County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

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 hospital. A jury trial is scheduled for June.

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

Cramer was scheduled for a criminal responsibility evaluation in March at the State Hospital in Jamestown in connection with the two cases.

He is being held at the McLean County Jail in Washburn on $500,000 cash bail.

Related Articles

Sentencing set for Nicolae Miu in fatal stabbing of Stillwater teen on Apple River

Unlicensed St. Paul driver sentenced to 5 months plus probation for killing Burnsville priest riding bike

Minneapolis man charged in friend’s fatal overdose at White Bear Lake hotel

Supreme Court questions obstruction charges brought against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump

St. Paul man killed in parents’ Chanhassen garage identified

Authorities are investigating a fatal motor vehicle collision in Coon Rapids.

According to the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office, the crash occurred at about 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at Main Street and Wedgewood Drive Northwest.

The sheriff’s office said a man driving a hatchback car on eastbound Main Street entered the westbound lane and collided head-on with a westbound pickup truck.

The hatchback driver, who wasn’t immediately identified, was declared dead at the scene. A man and a boy in the pickup suffered minor injuries.

The collision remains under investigation by the Coon Rapids Police Department, Minnesota State Patrol, Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office and Anoka County Sheriff’s Office.

Related Articles

Mother and children who died in Anoka County park incident identified

Coming soon to St. Paul area: Squad pickups to spot distracted drivers

Welfare check at Anoka County park leads to death investigation of woman, 2 children

Man and woman found fatally shot in parked car in Blaine

Fridley High School resource officer kicked in head while breaking up fight

By JACQUES BILLEAUD (Associated Press)

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrats in the Arizona Senate cleared a path to bring a proposed repeal of the state’s near-total ban on abortions to a vote after the state’s highest court concluded the law can be enforced and the state House blocked efforts to undo the long-dormant statute.

Although no vote was taken on the repeal itself, Republican Sens. T.J. Shope and Shawnna Bolick sided with 14 Democrats in the Senate on Wednesday in changing rules to let a repeal proposal advance after the deadline for hearing bills had passed. Proponents say the Senate could vote on the repeal as early as May 1.

If the proposed repeal wins final approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature and is signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, the 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become the prevailing abortion law.

The move by the Senate came after Republicans in the Arizona House, for the second time in a week, blocked attempts on Wednesday to bring a repeal bill to a vote. One Republican joined 29 Democrats in the Arizona House to bring the repeal measure to a vote Wednesday, but the effort failed twice on 30-30 votes.

The state’s near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, permits abortions only for saving the woman’s life and provides no exceptions for rape or incest. It carries a sentence of two to five years in prison for doctors or anyone else who assists in an abortion.

Last week, the Arizona Supreme Court drastically altered the legal landscape for terminating pregnancies in the state, concluding the 1864 law can be enforced and suggesting doctors can be prosecuted under the statute.

The debate in the House over whether to allow a vote on the repeal proposal was much fierier than in the Senate. Members from pro-life groups packed the House’s gallery and gave a standing ovation after efforts to bring the repeal bill to a vote was defeated.

House Speaker Ben Toma said those wanting to repeal the law were demanding action too soon, noting the court decision to revive the law came only a week ago. He said the only way he would bring the repeal bill to a vote would be if his fellow Republicans wanted it.

“We have deeply held beliefs,” Toma said. “And I would ask everyone in this chamber to respect the fact that someone wants to believe that abortion is in fact the murder of children.”

Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez of Tucson said Republicans are failing to act on a matter of great importance to Arizonans. “This is what we are arguing about right now: whether or not we should overturn something that is archaic, something that is going to really impact women in Arizona,” Hernandez said. “And yet we want to talk about a process or the right process.”

Rep. Matt Gress, the Phoenix Republican who joined with Democrats in trying to bring the repeal measure to a vote, said the 160-year-old law doesn’t reflect the values of most people living in the state.

“We need to get that taken care of and get it taken care of as soon as possible,” Gress said. “I think the eyes of the nation are on Arizona.”

In a statement, Hobbs, who supports a repeal of the law, said, “Republican extremists in the House have yet again failed to do the right thing. In just one week living under this new reality, women, doctors, and healthcare providers have already begun to feel the devastating effects of living under a total abortion ban. We cannot go on like this.”

The Center for Arizona Policy, a longtime backer of anti-abortion proposals before the Legislature, released a statement saying, “Today was a victory for life, even if only temporarily. Most pro-life lawmakers kept their promise today to protect the unborn and their mothers and not repeal Arizona’s pre-Roe law.”

The Civil War era law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

After Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge to lift an injunction that blocked enforcement of the 1864 ban. Brnovich’s Democratic successor, Attorney General Kris Mayes, urged the state’s high court to hold the line against it.

The state’s highest court said enforcement of the 1864 law won’t begin for at least two weeks. However, it could be up to two months, based on an agreement reached in a related case in Arizona. ____ Associated Press writer Scott Sonner in Reno, Nevada, contributed to this report.