Bismarck, North Dakota - The son of North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer has been sentenced to more than two decades behind bars after killing a sheriff's deputy during a high-speed car chase.

State District Judge Bobbi Weiler sentenced Ian Cramer (43) to 38 years in prison with 10 years suspended, three years of probation, and credit for more than a year served in jail, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

Weiler said the senator's son likely wouldn't serve the full time.

"The Department of Corrections has their own policy on how much time you’re going to serve," the judge explained, as reported by the Associated Press. "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."

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Weiler also recommended addiction and mental health treatment.

Cramer pleaded guilty last September to felony charges of homicide while fleeing a peace officer, fleeing from a felony offense, preventing arrest, and reckless endangerment in connection with a December 6, 2023, car crash that killed Mercer County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Martin (53).

The high-speed chase began when Cramer took his mother's Tahoe from the emergency entrance at Bismarck's Sanford Hospital, where she had taken her son for care. He hit speeds over 100 mph as he fled law enforcement officers, who had set up spike strips in an effort to stop him.

A short distance outside of the town of Hazen, Cramer encountered Martin and Beulah Police Chief Frank Senn, who had set up more spike strips. The two men were sheltering behind their patrol cars when Cramer's vehicle veered off the road and struck Martin, sending him flying 100 feet into a ditch and killing him.

Cramer had a history of serious mental health conditions as a result of long-term drug abuse. He admitted to using methamphetamine together with bath salts on the day of the crash.

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"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," Cramer said in court, according to the Bismarck Tribune.

Senator Cramer said, "It's heartbreaking for all of us and for our community, the price that that officer Martin, and probably more importantly, his family, has had to pay for my son's safety, quite honestly. And it's not lost to me that he's a hero."