WASHBURN, N.D. (AP) — 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, 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 (113 kilometers) from Bismarck.
Cramer hit speeds over 100 mph (160 kph) 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 (30 meters), authorities said. Martin, 53, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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.
Ian Cramer listens to state District Judge Bobbi Weiler during his court appearance on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at the McLean County Courthouse in Washburn, N.D. Cramer waived his preliminary hearing and pleaded not guilty to homicide while fleeing a peace officer and other felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with the pursuit and crash that resulted in the death of Mercer County Sheriff's Deputy Paul Martin, 53, on Dec. 6, 2023, near Hazen, N.D. (AP Photo/Jack Dura)
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Broadway shows celebrating the origins of sonic creativity — the musical “Hell’s Kitchen” fueled by Alicia Keys songs, and the play "Stereophonic" about a '70s rock band at the edge of stardom — each earned a leading 13 Tony Award nominations Tuesday, a list that also saw a record number of women nominated for best director.
A total of 28 shows earned a Tony nod or more, with the musical “The Outsiders,” an adaptation of the beloved S. E. Hinton novel and the Francis Ford Coppola film, earning 12 nominations; a starry revival of “Cabaret” starring Eddie Redmayne, nabbing nine; and "Appropriate," Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ searing play about a family reunion in Arkansas where everyone has competing motivations and grievances, grabbing eight.
Rachel McAdams, making her Broadway debut in “Mary Jane,” earned a best actress in a play nomination, while “Succession” star Jeremy Strong, got his first ever nomination, for a revival of “An Enemy of the People.” Jessica Lange in “Mother Play,” Sarah Paulson in “Appropriate” and Amy Ryan, who stepped in at the last minute for a revival of “Doubt,” also earned nominations in the best actress in a play category.
"The Big Bang Theory" star Jim Parsons earned a supporting nod for “Mother Play,” and Daniel Radcliffe on his fifth Broadway show, a revival of Stephen Sondheim's “Merrily We Roll Along,” won his first nomination.
Redmayne in his second show on Broadway got a nod as best lead actor in a musical, as did Brian d’Arcy James for “Days of Wine and Roses,” Brody Grant in “The Outsiders,” Jonathan Groff in “Merrily We Roll Along” and 73-year-old Dorian Harewood in “The Notebook,” the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks romantic tearjerker. Harewood, in his first Broadway show in 46 years, landed his first Tony nomination.
Redmayne's “Cabaret” co-star Gayle Rankin earned a nomination for best actress in a musical, as did Eden Espinosa in “Lempicka,” Maleah Joi Moon in “Hell’s Kitchen,” Kelli O’Hara in “Days of Wine and Roses” and 71-year-old Maryann Plunkett, who plays the elderly wife at the heart of “The Notebook.”
Steve Carell in his Broadway debut in a poorly received revival of the classic play “Uncle Vanya” failed to secure a nod, but starry producers who earned Tony nods include Keys, Angelina Jolie (for “The Outsiders”) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (for “Suffs”).
The best new musical crown will be a battle between “Hell's Kitchen,” “The Outsiders,” the dance-heavy, dialogue-less stage adaptation of Sufjan Stevens’s 2005 album “Illinois,” “Suffs,” based on the American suffragists of the early 20th century, and “Water for Elephants,” which combines Sara Green’s 2006 bestseller with circus elements.
The best new play Tony will pit “Stereophonic” against “Mother Play,” Paula Vogel’s play about a mother and her kids spanning 1964 to the 21st century; “Mary Jane,” Amy Herzog’s humanistic portrait of a divorced mother of a young boy with health issues; “Prayer for the French Republic,” Joshua Harmon’s sprawling family comedy-drama that deals with Zionism, religious fervency and antisemitism; and “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the lives of West African women working at a salon.
The nominations marked a smashing of the Tony record for most women named in a single season. The 2022 Tony Awards had held the record for most female directing nominees, with four total across the two races — musical and play. Only 10 women have gone on to win a directing crown.
This year, three women were nominated for best play direction — Lila Neugebauer (“Appropriate”), Anne Kauffman (“Mary Jane”) and Whitney White (“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”) — while four were nominated in the musical category — Maria Friedman (“Merrily We Roll Along“), Leigh Silverman (“Suffs”) Jessica Stone (“Water for Elephants”) and Danya Taymor (“The Outsiders”).
A spring barrage of new shows — 14 shows opened in an 11-day span this year — is not unusual these days as producers hope their work will be fresh in the mind of voters ahead of the Tony Awards ceremony on June 16.
There were some firsts this season, including “Here Lies Love” with Broadway's first all-Filipino cast, which earned four nominations, including best original score for David Byrne and Fat Boy Slim. And seven openly autistic actors starred in “How to Dance in Ohio,” a first for Broadway but which got no Tony love.
Academy Award winner and Tony Award-nominee Ariana DeBose, who hosted both the 2023 and 2022 ceremonies, will be back this year and will produce and choreograph the opening number.
This year’s location — the David H. Koch Theater — is the home of New York City Ballet and in the same sprawling building complex as Lincoln Square Theater, which houses the Broadway venue Beaumont Theater.
Like last year, the three-hour main telecast will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. EDT/5 p.m.-8 p.m. PDT with a pre-show on Pluto TV, and some Tony Awards handed out there.
This season's Broadway numbers — about $1.4 billion in grosses and 11.1 million tickets — is running slightly less than the 2022-23 season, off about 4% in grosses and down 1% in tickets.
Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
This image released by Polk & Co. shows Kecia Lewis, left, and Maleah Joi Moon during a performance of "Hell's Kitchen." (Marc J. Franklin/Polk & Co. via AP)
This image released by Polk & Co. shows Maleah Joi Moon, left, and Chris Lee during a performance of "Hell's Kitchen." (Marc J. Franklin/Polk & Co. via AP)
This image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows, from left, Alison Luff, Olive Ross-Kline and Adam Jacobs during a performance of "The Who's Tommy." (Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman/Boneau/Bryan-Brown via AP)
This image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows Maryann Plunkett, left, and Dorian Harewood during a performance of "The Notebook." (Julieta Cervantes/Boneau/Bryan-Brown via AP)
This image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows Ryan Vasquez, right, and Joy Woods during a performance of "The Notebook." (Julieta Cervantes/Boneau/Bryan-Brown via AP)
FILE - The stage appears before the start of the 75th annual Tony Awards on June 12, 2022 in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
