BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Jurors have convicted a Colorado woman of cutting a stranger’s baby from her womb in a gruesome 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.
Wilkins was born in North Carolina and graduated from Appalachian State University.
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.
That prompted Republican legislation that would’ve allowed murder charges for killing a fetus, but Democrats rejected it.