U.S. woman convicted of of cutting fetus from stranger's womb, facing 120 years in prison

A Colorado jury on Tuesday convicted a woman of attempted murder and assault for stabbing another pregnant woman and cutting the fetus from the latter woman's womb.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated five hours before finding Dynel Lane, 35, also guilty of a charge of unlawfully terminating a pregnancy from the March 2015 attack on Michelle Wilkins. Lane faces a prison sentence of 120 years, according to prosecutors.

Michelle Wilkins, the 27-year-old victim, was seven months pregnant last March when she responded to a Craigslist ad for free baby clothes by going to Lane's home in Longmont, about 32 kilometers north of Boulder, where she was suddenly attacked and left to die in the basement of Lane's home.

Lane took the fetus to a nearby hospital after the attack, claiming she had suffered a miscarriage. The fetus, a baby girl, died. Police arrested Lane that day.

The case renewed discussion of whether termination of a pregnancy can ever be considered murder. Prosecutors filed a charge of unlawful termination of a pregnancy against Lane after the Boulder County Coroner ruled the unborn child was fetus rather than a baby because it had not taken a breath outside the womb.

Under Colorado Law, an unborn child cannot be considered a person unless it can live unassisted outside the womb.

The jury rejected the defense's plea that Lane acted "hastily, impulsively and recklessly" as a way to have her sentence reduced, and gave her the maximum penalty possible instead.

Wilkins, who survived the brutal attack thanks to rapid emergency responders, said she felt "very emotional" and a "release" when the verdict was announced and wanted to move on with her life.

"I don't hate Dynel ... I forgive her," said the woman victim, stoically after the decision was read out, standing beside her parents to address a host of 30 journalists outside the Boulder County Justice Center about 64 kilometers north of Denver.

"He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love," she told reporters, quoting Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. about her feelings toward Lane.

Lane, with bushy, long, black hair and wearing a blue, button-down shirt, black pants and black jacket, showed no emotions during the proceeding and as she was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs.

The sentencing of the case is set on April 29. Endit