U.S. woman who cut a baby from womb gets 100 year sentence

A judge has sentenced a Colorado woman to 100 years in prison for cutting a nearly 8-month-old fetus from a stranger’s womb.

A jury convicted 36-year-old Dynel Lane in February of attempting to kill Michelle Wilkins in 2015. Lane, who was sentenced Friday, was also convicted of assault and unlawful termination of a pregnancy. She had lured Wilkins with an ad for maternity clothes.

READ MORE: Jury convicts U.S. woman who cut baby from stranger’s womb

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up

By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Prosecutors say they were unable to charge Lane with murdering the unborn girl because a coroner found no evidence that the fetus lived outside the womb. That led Colorado Republicans to introduce legislation that would have allowed a murder charge. Democrats rejected the measure, the third time such a proposal failed in Colorado. Over the objection of abortion-rights supporters, 38 states have made a fetus’s killing a homicide.

During the trial Lane was said to have been obsessed with having a baby. Her attorneys argued the assault was not a calculated murder attempt, but an impulsive act.

WATCH: Trial begins for woman suspected of cutting fetus from stranger’s womb

1:25 Trial begins for woman suspected of cutting fetus from stranger’s womb