A judge has ruled that $700,000 in legal fees must be paid to the legal team of a convicted murderer who wants a sex change - but she has said that she wont claim the money if the state allows her operation to go ahead.

The impasse was reached when Chief U.S. District Judge Mark L. Wolf said in a Boston court that he recognised Michelle Kosilek's legal team had fought hard for their clients constitutional right and that the Department of Corrections should think about giving up its resistance to the procedure.

Kosilek was born male but has received hormone treatments and now lives as a woman in an all-male prison. Kosilek was named Robert when married to Cheryl Kosilek and convicted of murdering her in 1990.