The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld the 100-year prison sentence in a 2015 attack on a pregnant Longmont woman in which her unborn child was cut from the womb and subsequently died.
In announcing the court’s ruling on Thursday, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office in an email stated it “is very pleased with this decision, as it upholds the conviction of the defendant in what was truly a horrific case. Chief Deputy DA Catrina Weigel and former District Attorney Stan Garnett fought hard for justice in this difficult and terrible case, so to have the conviction affirmed today is positive news for the victim and our community.”
Dynel Lane was convicted in 2016 of one count of attempted first-degree murder, four counts of assault and one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy in connection to the attack on Michelle Wilkins and the death of her unborn child.
“Lane, lured a pregnant woman (Wilkins) to her house so she could steal the woman’s unborn baby and pretend the baby was her own,” the court’s ruling states in describing the crime that shocked not just Longmont but the country. “In furtherance of this plan, she assaulted the victim with deadly weapons and then cut through the victim’s abdomen to remove the unborn baby. She left the victim to die and told multiple persons, including the police, that the baby was her own. The baby died, but the baby’s mother survived.”
In her appeal, Lane’s attorneys alleged statements she made to police were the result of unlawful interrogation; that there was insufficient evidence to prove deliberation in support of the attempted first-degree murder charge; that “prosecutorial misconduct” deprived her of a fair trial; that her three assault convictions should have been merged into one conviction; that her sentences for all of the crimes of which she was convicted must run concurrently; and not consecutively; and that the sentence for first-degree unlawful termination of a pregnancy was illegal, according to information in the court’s ruling.
The court affirmed all of Lane’s convictions except one for second-degree assault, which it said must be merged with the first of her first-degree assault convictions. The merger, the court stated, does not affect the 100-year sentence.
In outlining the facts of the case in its ruling, the court stated Lane had faked her pregnancy and lured Wilkins to her home with a Craigslist ad for free maternity clothes.
When Wilkins went to Lane’s home, Lane attacked her, and after knocking her unconscious, “used two different knives to make three cuts to the victim’s abdomen and removed the baby from the victim’s uterus. She left the victim unconscious in the basement bedroom with open knife wounds. Lane did nothing to close the wounds or to call for medical assistance,” the court stated.
Lane’s husband later took her and the baby to the hospital, where the child died. Police spoke to Lane at the hospital, where she eventually claimed the “victim had attacked her and that she had acted in self-defense. Lane said she thought she had killed the victim and cut the baby out of the victim’s uterus to save the baby,” the ruling stated.
In the appeal, Lane’s attorneys argued her statements to police at the hospital should have been suppressed because she was not read her Miranda rights prior to two of those interrogations, which it deemed “custodial.” The appeals court, however, deferred to the trial court’s findings that Lane was “not in custody for Miranda purposes during the first two interviews because ‘the police had not transported (Lane) to her location, her husband had taken her there for medical care, ostensibly following a miscarriage,’ and because hospital staff went in and out of the room throughout. As to the third interview, the court found that Lane understood and waived her Miranda rights.”
