LOOS

MARQUETTE — Hunter Allen Loos, the Marquette man accused of killing a woman on the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community reservation in Chocolay Township on Oct. 30, will be transferred to an out-of-state federal prison.

Loos, who has been lodged at the Marquette County Jail since his arrest in the early hours of Oct. 31, will be transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky, a federal prison for inmates requiring medical or mental health care.

A Dec. 10 status conference for Loos was scheduled but has been canceled due to his transfer to FMC Lexington. Loos will arrive at the facility within 10 days of the court order, which was issued on Monday, court documents show.

The United States District Court Western District of Michigan Northern Division ordered on Nov. 9 for Loos to undergo a competency hearing and psychiatric or psychological evaluation to determine his mental competency, with a psychiatric report to be filed.

The motion was granted because the court found “reasonable cause to believe that Loos may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent to the extent that he is unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him or to assist properly in his defense,” court documents state.

Officials have filed a federal criminal complaint seeking to charge Loos with first-degree murder, court documents show. This charge carries a maximum penalty of death or imprisonment for life and/or a $250,000 fine.

A 30-day ends-of-justice continuance was granted for the case in November due to COVID-19 and the ongoing competency evaluation.