She might have escaped being charged with murder but Dynel Lane is still charged in court for felonies that could get her at least 100 years prison term if found guilty, authorities said Friday.
Lane was charged Friday with eight felonies, including attempted initial-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and unlawful termination of a pregnancy just days after prosecutors junked the murder charged that was supposed to be filed against her.
The unlawful termination charge was filed below a new law intended to be a compromise among opponents and supporters of abortion rights.
The maximum punishment for the felony is 32 years in prison, when a individual convicted of homicide in the state could face the death penalty or life in prison devoid of parole.
The murder charges was terminated because the victim was still unborn and Colorado does not have a law that considers murder the death of an unborn child.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said the charges were amended under the Colorado law.
“I fully grasp that several people today in the community, and heaven knows I’ve heard from a lot of them, would like me to have filed homicide charges,” Garnett mentioned. “However, that is not attainable below Colorado law with no proof of a reside birth.”
Lane, 34, allegedly committed the crime inside her Longmont, Colorado household after the pregnant mother was lured into the suspect’s house following a Craiglist ad for infant clothing.
Michelle Wilkins said she went to the house of Lane after seeing the online advertisement but Lane instead attacked her and killed her unborn child.
Colorado has twice rejected proposals that would make the violent death of an unborn child a homicide, fearing they could interfere with abortion rights.
State Senate President Bill Cadman announced Friday that Republicans would try for the third time to get such a measure passed.
“This was a child. A youngster was murdered,” he stated in statement. “That Coloradans have no way to hold the murderer responsible, or provide justice for the victims, is a gap in Colorado’s justice system which can no longer be ignored.”