Woman accused of cutting baby from womb found guilty of attempted murder

Jurors are considering the fate of a Colorado woman who cut an unborn baby from another woman’s womb, a case which reignited the debate over the legal rights of fetuses.

Dynel Lane, 36, showed no reaction as the judge read guilty verdicts on all six counts, including attempted first-degree murder.

Lane beat and stabbed Wilkins and used two kitchen knives to remove her unborn baby girl in Lane’s Longmont home.

Lane is charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

Ms Wilkins, who was more than seven months pregnant, survived but her baby died.

Fox 31 Denver reports Lane did not show any emotions as the judge read the verdict. Yet, Wilkins said, Lane hit her again and a chaotic physical altercation ensued.

She could face a prison sentence between 16 and 120 years, District Attorney Stan Garnett said after the verdict. Wilkins said she asked if a spider had been on her shoulder.

“She was pulling at my sweater, kind of scratched at me”, Wilkins said.

She later said: “You don’t know how strong you are until you have to be”.

Prosecutors say Lane went to great lengths to convince others she was expecting a baby before luring Michelle Wilkins to her home with a Craigslist ad for maternity clothes. She faked photographs of a pregnant belly and gave the man she said was the father a sonogram she had downloaded from the Internet.

Wilkins said that she has forgiven Lane, saying it is a “part of who I am”. Wilkins regained consciousness and called police.

At the hospital after the attack, Lane had initially claimed the child was her own.

The case sparked controversy after Mr. Garnett declined to charge Lane on a second count of first-degree attempted murder because there was no proof the baby was alive after being removed from Ms. Wilkins’ womb.

Garnett said he could not charge Lane with murder for the death of a fetus, which led Colorado Republicans to introduce legislation that would have allowed him to do so.

Jurors have resumed deliberations in the trial of a Colorado woman who cut an unborn baby from another woman’s womb.

She told police in the interview, “I killed her, I killed this woman”, and then said she believes she was attacked.

Prosecutors argued that Lane was obsessed by pregnancy and had crafted a freakish lie about being pregnant, which she promoted on social media.

Chief Trial Deputy District Attorney Catrina Weigel painted a much different picture, telling the jury how Lane lured her victim to her house and how she even switched knives before committing the act.

She said Lane responded, “If you love me, you’ll let me do this”, before stabbing Wilkins in the neck with a shard of broken glass.

When Ridley came home early from work that day to meet Lane for a doctor’s appointment, he said he found the fetus in a bathtub and drove the child and Lane to a hospital, where she begged staff to save her baby.

Ms. Wilkins said Tuesday that it was “too soon” for her to decide whether she would try to have another baby – “I’m still grieving Aurora” – but that her doctors have told her she has the potential to have children despite the trauma inflicted by the attack.