Senate President's Bill Would Expand Protections For Unborn Children
DENVER (CBS4) - The woman suspected of attacking a pregnant woman and cutting her unborn baby from her womb will not face murder charges, a legal controversy that some state lawmakers hope to change.
Boulder County District Attorney Stanley Garnett announced on Friday that charges filed against 34-year-old Dynel Lane will not include murder, sparking strong reactions from the community.
In response, Colorado Senate President Bill Cadman is drafting a bill that would extend legal protection against crimes to unborn children here in Colorado -- protections that already exist in nearly two dozen other states.
Police said the mother, Michelle Wilkins, was attacked by Lane after showing up at her Longmont home last week in response to a Craigslist ad for baby clothes.
District Attorney Garnett said an autopsy found no evidence that baby Aurora ever took a breath after being removed, and, "on this point, Colorado law is absolutely unambiguous."
"I understand that many people in the community, and heaven knows I've heard from a lot of them, would like me to have filed homicide charges. However that is not possible under Colorado law without proof of a live birth," he stated.
In a statement, Cadman said, "this shocking lack of murder charges, in defense of an obvious murder victim, not only deeply offends our sense of humanity and justice -- it also highlights a void in Colorado law that must be addressed if we want to give a measure of justice to this child that Boulder's DA can't or won't."
The Republican from Colorado Springs said legislation in the works will update Colorado statutes to make cases like what happened to baby Aurora constitute murder.
At least 23 US states currently have fetal homicide laws that apply to the earliest stages of pregnancy. Colorado is not one of them.
DA Garnett explained, "I have a sworn ethical duty not to file criminal charges against anyone that are not supported by law in existence at the time and by the admissible evidence, regardless of my personal opinion of the law."
The Archbishop of Denver released a statement calling the lack of murder charges a "travesty of justice." He also stated that he prays the inadequate law of Colorado will change.
