Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Luke Kreider is seen at the start of his sentencing hearing in Houghton County Circuit Court Tuesday. He was sentenced to 15 to 45 years in prison for the September murder of Caleb Lynum in Houghton.

By GARRETT NEESE

gneese@mininggazette.com

HOUGHTON — A Hancock man was sentenced to 15 to 45 years in prison Tuesday for the September murder of a L’Anse man.

Luke Kreider, 20, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree homicide in the killing of Caleb Lynum, 24, during an early-morning altercation Sept. 1 at the Arbor Green Apartments in Houghton. Lynum was hospitalized in Marquette and placed on life support, later dying from his injuries.

In exchange for the plea, a charge of open murder was dismissed. So was a charge of first-degree criminal sexual conduct stemming from a separate incident in August 2022.

Kreider said he had been heavily intoxicated at the time of the incident. During the sentencing, he apologized to the Lynum family.

“I was very out of sight and out of mind at the time,” he said. “None of this would’ve happened if I’d stayed sober. My sobriety now is very much out of remorse for what I did. Caleb was a friend of mine, and it hurts me that any of this happened.”

The plea agreement stated Kreider’s sentence would be a minimum of 15 years but no more than 75.

Baraga County Probate Court Judge Timothy Brennan, who served as judge for the case, said four factors went into the sentence: the possibility of rehabilitation and reformation; public safety; retribution; and deterrence, both for the defendant and others who might be inclined to commit the same crime.

He noted Kreider’s alcohol and marijuana intake the night of the incident. Kreider had been using since he was 14; by the time he was jailed, he was taking “an alphabet of drugs,” Brennan said.

“This was an act fueled by alcohol and drugs,” he said. “It was particularly violent without any form of justification. It was a person causing death by traumatic brain injury … it was a travesty. It shouldn’t happen in a civilized world.”

A crowd of about 25 people attended the hearing. None spoke during the hearing, though Brennan said he had read victim impact statements included in the sentencing report.

Kreider began the hearing present in the courtroom. Kreider’s attorney Antonio Ruiz was unable to attend in person, as he was awaiting a jury verdict in an unrelated case in Schoolcraft County.

Kreider was sent back to the county jail for the sentencing so he could meet with his attorney over Zoom in a separate breakout session. Kreider was given the option of postponing the sentence to Thursday or a date later this month, but said he wanted to move forward Tuesday.

Court resumed but shortly went into recess again after the jury in Ruiz’s other case returned from deliberation.

Kreider was credited with 345 days served.