The arrest affidavit for Dynel Lane, of cutting the fetus from an expectant mother’s womb, quotes Lane’s husband as saying he heard and saw the baby gasping for breath in a bathtub.
In other words, the child, two months premature, appeared to be alive outside the womb, if only briefly, before she died. And she died, of course, because of the grave trauma that she was being subjected to.
Homicide?
The homicide statute refers to a human being “who had been born and was alive at the time of the homicidal act.” This would seem to be a close call, but we hope Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett gives such a charge serious consideration.
On Thursday, Garnett said murder charges can only be levied if it can be established the baby lived outside the body of the mother for “some period of time.”
The law is vague in defining what constitutes life in such a situation, he said, and suggested that it should someday be clarified by the state’s Court of Appeals or the Colorado Supreme Court.
Maybe so, but the evidence that the baby girl breathed air outside of the womb would seem extremely important, especially because she wasn’t receiving medical care.
Of course, even if prosecutors reach another conclusion, Lane still potentially faces serious charges, thanks in part to a law passed by the legislature in 2013 covering the death of a fetus. Lane could face first-degree unlawful termination of pregnancy — a Class 3 felony punishable by up to 32 years in prison.
She will also likely face even more severe charges of attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping, both Class 2 felonies.
The results of an autopsy scheduled for Friday could determine whether the baby was alive after being cut out of her mother’s womb. But if the answer is uncertain, then the statement by Lane’s husband may become pivotal.
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