Mother-To-Be Stabbing Trial In Jury's Hands, Deliberation Continues Tuesday
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - A Boulder County jury is deliberating on whether to find a woman guilty of attempted first-degree murder in the incident nearly a year ago in which she cut an unborn baby from another woman's womb. After approximately six hours of deliberation the jury went home for the night and will reconvene Tuesday morning.
Dynel Lane, 35, is charged in the attack on Michelle Wilkins at Lane's Longmont home in March 2015.
Lane's trial started last Wednesday and Lane didn't take the stand.
During closing arguments Monday morning attorneys for both sides took about an hour each to speak to the jury.
Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett argued that while Lane's actions may have been poorly planned, her plan was to commit murder.
"That is not reckless, that is not some kind of thoughtless act, that is intentional behavior. And actions speak louder than words, and when you're trying to determine what was somebody thinking, what did they intend when they harmed another human being, you have to look at how they went about inflicting the harm," Garnett said.
"And when you do that in this case, the only conclusion you can reach is that for whatever reason, for whatever thought or goal she had ... for whatever plan she had -- and it wasn't a good plan -- she intentionally, deliberately cut Michelle Wilkins to take and to kill her baby."
The defense argued that they believe Lane is guilty of the attempted manslaughter charge she also faces, but that when the crime is viewed carefully, it's clear Lane is not guilty of attempted murder.
"Why would she wait so long after Ms. Wilkins got to her house to attack her?" said defense attorney Jennifer Beck, referring to the fact that the attack took place about an hour after Wilkins arrived at the home looking to buy baby clothes Lane had listed for sale on Craigslist.
"Why wouldn't she have a plan for how she was going to kill her? Why wouldn't she have a story to tell her family, or at the very least, a story to tell the police?
"It doesn't make any sense why a woman -- a mother of two, who had someone who loved her, who didn't even want to have kids would do something like this. It doesn't make any sense because it was a hasty, impulsive and reckless act."
Lane could face as much as 140 years in prison if she is convicted on all six counts she faces.