100 Years In Prison For Woman Who Cut Fetus From Stranger’s Womb

Photo: Dynel Lane (AP Photo)
Dynel Lane, 34, is accused of stabbing a pregnant woman in the stomach and removing her baby, while the expectant mother visited her home to buy baby clothes advertised on Craigslist authorities said.

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.

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.