BOSTON, MA - A man convicted of killing his wife is again asking a judge for permission to get a sex-change operation.

Robert Kosilek, who is now known as Michelle Kosilek, initially sued correction officials in Massachusetts four years ago, seeking treatment for gender identity disorder. At the time, a federal judge ordered the state to provide female hormone treatments for Kosilek, but stopped short of ordering a sex-change operation.

Now, Kosilek is back in court, again seeking to have the operation. A psychiatrist who treated him testified Tuesday that without the procedure, Kosilek is likely to commit suicide.

Kosilek said he believes himself to be a woman trapped in a man's body.

A lawyer for the state said it would be a security risk to allow Kosilek to have a sex-change operation, because other inmates in the prison might attack him.