State Will Pay Legal Fees for Michelle Kosilek

 A Boston federal judge says he'll order Massachusetts to pay more than $700,000 in legal fees for a convicted murderer who successfully sued for a state-funded sex change.

    The Boston Globe reports Judge Mark Wolf spoke at a hearing Wednesday. He said he'd decide the specific amount later.

    Wolf ruled in September that sex-reassignment surgery is the ``only adequate treatment'' for Michelle Kosilek's gender-identity disorder, and also awarded legal fees. 

    It was the first time a judge has ordered prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery to an inmate. The state is appealing.

    Wolf said the state has paid large legal fees in other prisoner rights cases, and noted Kosilek's lawyers have offered to dismiss their request if the state drops its appeal. The state has declined to comment pending the appeal.

    Kosilek first sued in 2000.  (Associated Press)