Pregnant Guard Had Affair With Cop Killer

A female prison guard in New York has been charged with sexually abusing a convicted killer whose child she is carrying.

A visibly-pregnant Nancy Gonzalez appeared briefly in court before a judge in Brooklyn before being released on bail.

Inmates cannot legally consent to sex. The 29-year-old faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Ms Gonzalez, who worked the night shift at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Centre, was accused of having a four-month affair with Ronell Wilson that ended last August.

Wilson was convicted for the 2003 murder of two New York City police officers.

The execution-style murder of the two undercover officers led to the first federal death sentence passed in the city in more than a half century.

But the capital punishment order was overturned by a federal court in 2010, and he is awaiting his sentence before a new jury.

Other prisoners told of his affair with Ms Gonzalez, according to court files.

They reported seeing the couple hugging and kissing, and Ms Gonzalez in Wilson's cell standing in front of him while his pants were pulled down.

CCTV cameras also captured some of their illicit liaisons.

"I took a chance, because I was so vulnerable and wanted to be loved and now I am carrying his child," the prison guard revealed in a recorded telephone call to another inmate.

She also allegedly said in the recording that getting pregnant with Wilson's child could help him.

"Why not give him a child, as far as giving him some kind of hope?"

The prison guard allegedly began a second affair last September with the other unidentified inmate, who offered to raise the baby as his own.

"She's had a very tragic life and as this case proceeds, you'll learn more about it and how these affected her judgement," her lawyer Anthony Ricco said outside court on Tuesday.

"People find love in the strangest places," he added.