BOULDER, Colo. – Jurors have convicted a Colorado woman of cutting a stranger’s baby from her womb in a case that reignited the debate over the legal rights of fetuses.
The jury found Dynel Lane guilty of attempted first-degree murder, assault and unlawful termination of a pregnancy in last year’s attack. 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 then hit and choked Wilkins before using two kitchen knives to cut out the unborn girl.
Wilkins, who was 7 1/2 months pregnant, survived, but her baby died.
Prosecutors say they couldn’t charge Lane with murder because a coroner found no evidence the fetus lived outside the womb.