The state is appealing a ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ordering prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for the convicted murderer, formerly known as Robert Kosilek.
Robert Kosilek is led out of court following his arraignment on drunken driving charges in 1990 in New Rochelle, N.Y. In 1993, he is seen in New Bedford Superior Court, right, as Michelle Kosilek.
BOSTON – A federal appeals court will hear arguments in April in an appeal of a judge’s ruling granting a taxpayer-funded sex change for a Massachusetts transgender inmate.
The state is appealing a ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ordering prison officials to provide sex-reassignment surgery for Michelle Kosilek, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence.
On Thursday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston scheduled a hearing for April 2. Kosilek was named Robert when convicted in the 1990 murder of wife Cheryl Kosilek.
Wolf ruled in September that the surgery is the “only adequate treatment” for Koslek’s gender-identity disorder.
The state says there are legitimate safety concerns of protecting her in prison if she has the surgery.