Colorado Judge Sentences Dynel Lane to 100 Years For Cutting out Woman's Unborn Fetus
A chief district court judge has sentenced a Colorado woman to 100 years behind bars for beating another woman unconscious and cutting her seven-month old fetus from her womb.
Dynel Lane sent shock-waves across the nation with the commission of her March 2015 crime, a grisly act she committed after luring her unsuspecting victim to her apartment with a Craigslist ad offering free maternity clothes.
Earlier this month, Michele Wilkins stood before Judge Maria Berkenkotter to painfully reflect on all the crime robbed her of and to ask that Lane be given the harshest punishment possible.
Judge Chastises Lane Before Handing Down Sentence
"They won't get to watch as she decides who she is or what she wants to do with her life," Berkenkotter scolded the 35-year-old Lane as she passed down her sentence. "Ms. Lane, you stole that from Michelle."
Lane was formally convicted last February of first-degree attempted murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy by a Boulder County jury during a trial where prosecutors told the court she spent months faking her pregnancy.
At one point, Lane even sent ultrasound images she downloaded from the Internet to David Ridley, the man she claimed was the father. Later, friends even threw her a baby shower.
Grim and graphic testimony also showed Lane removed Wilkins' fetus with two kitchen knives. Leading up to the trial, prosecutors lamented they could not charge her with murder because Aurora Wilkins never took a breath of life.
Lane Plans to Appeal Conviction
Lane did not speak during the sentence hearing and her mother Carol DeHerrera told the court she never recovered from the accidental drowning death of her young son. She added her daughter's desperation to have another child "caused her to make this choice."
Lane's family and friends expressed condolences to Michelle Wilkins. They described Lane as a caring, loving person and a dedicated mother to her two daughters.
Public defender Kathryn Herold asked the judge to let Lane's sentences run concurrently and added she plans to appeal her conviction.
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