UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, │ Plaintiff-Appellee, │ > No. 22-1629 │ v. │ │ HUNTER ALLEN LOOS, │ Defendant-Appellant. │ ┘ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Marquette. No. 2:21-cr-00005-1—Hala Y. Jarbou, Chief District Judge.

Decided and Filed: May 1, 2023

Before: SUTTON, Chief Judge; BATCHELDER and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. _________________

COUNSEL ON BRIEF: Paul L. Nelson, OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL PUBLIC DEFENDER, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellant. Andrew Byerly Birge, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY’S OFFICE, Grand Rapids, Michigan, for Appellee. _________________

OPINION _________________

SUTTON, Chief Judge. Consumed by a toxic mixture of mental illness and drug addiction, Hunter Loos stabbed his mother to death, drove her body to a nearby trail, doused it with gasoline, and set her body on fire. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and the district court imposed a 240-month sentence. Finding no error, we affirm. No. 22-1629 United States v. Loos Page 2

I.

Loos and his mother, Renee Bressette, lived together on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation in Michigan’s Western Upper Peninsula. She was a member of the tribe; he was not. Loos suffered from mental health issues and abused drugs. After an escalating series of physical altercations between the mother and son, presumably caused by these two challenges in his life, Loos decided to kill his mother. He stabbed her in the back and chest. Over the next 60 to 90 minutes, she bled to death in his presence, after which Loos took her body to a nearby trail. He doused the corpse with gasoline and lit it. After burning additional evidence, Loos visited a casino to purchase cigarettes.

Officers responded to a report of burning human remains. Aided by casino surveillance footage, they zeroed in on Loos. He confessed, and a grand jury charged him with first-degree murder and second-degree murder. 18 U.S.C. §§ 1111, 1151, 1152.

Psychologists diagnosed Loos with various forms of schizophrenia and drug addiction. The court found that Loos’s mental illness did not impair his competence to stand trial.

At the urging of Bressette’s daughters, the government permitted Loos to plead guilty to second-degree murder. The parties agreed to a minimum sentence of 180 months. The presentence report identified a Guidelines range of 180 to 210 months. It recommended a two- level upward departure based on “extreme conduct,” U.S.S.G. § 5K2.8, and a 240-month sentence.

At sentencing, Loos and the government sought dueling departures. The court rejected Loos’s request for a diminished capacity departure, U.S.S.G. § 5K2.13, finding him ineligible because his offense involved “actual violence” and “indicate[d] a need to protect the public,” R.177 at 13, 38. The court granted the government’s request for an extreme conduct departure, concluding that by “watch[ing] [the victim] die” and “cleaning up,” L