Survivor Addresses Woman Who Cut Baby From Womb
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- The woman who survived an attack where her unborn baby was cut from her womb addressed her attacker in court during her sentencing hearing on Friday and referred to her unborn daughter who did not survive.
Michelle Wilkins asked permission from the judge to address her attacker directly in the Boulder County Courtroom. The judge granted her request but said Wilkins must look at her while making those statements.
"I chose to use my time to address you directly, Dynel, because up to this very moment you refused to acknowledge us, the victims of your violent actions. I am a compassionate person, this is the foundation of the beliefs from which all others grow. It is clear that you need healing and my sincere belief that you get it," said Wilkins.
Wilkins made her statements at the front of the court while a large picture of her daughter, Aurora, graced the courtroom beside her. Aurora did not survive the attack.
A jury convicted Dynel Lane in February of attempting to kill Wilkins in 2015. Lane was also convicted of four felony assault charges and one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy, also a felony.
Lane had lured Wilkins with a Craigslist ad for maternity clothes in Longmont.
Because of state law, prosecutors said they could not charge Lane, 36, with murder in the unborn baby's death.
Wilkins continued to refer to her daughter throughout her statement to the court.
"There were atrocities committed against me and my daughter that sent a ripple of pain out to so many others," said Wilkins.
"I did not learn until the trial just how many opportunities you had to do the right thing and then chose not to. You knowingly left me to die multiple times. The only tears that you shed during the trial were those of self pity to the sound of your own voice as your lies were slowly revealed. And yet even now you cannot come clean about what actually occurred. You embrace the narcissistic fantasy to fulfill the lie you created and it was more important than my right to live and Aurora's right to live."
As Wilkins pointed to a picture of her daughter in the courtroom she looked at Lane and said to her, "This is a picture of her" while the defense objected.
Wilkins then said while she trusts the court to make the right decision, she asked for the maximum sentence.
The judge handed down a 100 year sentence for Lane.