NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prison guard
was charged Tuesday with having an illegal affair with an inmate
convicted in one of New York's most notorious police killings, later
becoming pregnant with his child.
Nancy Gonzalez, 29, was arrested
Tuesday on charges she intentionally engaged in a sex act with Ronell
Wilson while working the night shift at the Metropolitan Detention
Center in Brooklyn. She became pregnant in June, a few months into the
affair, according to court papers. Gonzalez appeared in court Tuesday
visibly pregnant and crying, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, and was
released on $150,000 bond.
"She's had a very tragic life," said her attorney, Anthony Rico. "She has long-term issues that affected her life and judgment."
Her
family didn't comment as a swarm of photographers and television
cameras surrounded them outside federal court. Gonzalez buried her head
in Rico's shoulder while he spoke to reporters.
"These are very serious charges," he said, adding he wouldn't say whether Wilson pressured Gonzalez into the affair.
Wilson, 30, was a young gang member on Staten Island when he was convicted in the point-blank shootings of undercover officers James Nemorin and Rodney Andrews in a 2006 illegal gun sting gone awry. The officers
were both shot in the back of the head. Wilson was sentenced to death,
but the sentence was thrown out in 2010 by an appeals court based on
prosecutorial error.
Wilson could still face death; a new jury
will decide his fate. But the replay of the trial's penalty phase has
been put off as Wilson's lawyers seek to convince a judge that he's
ineligible for the death penalty because he's mentally disabled.
In
November, a hearing was held on the claim, and a decision from Judge
Nicholas Garaufis is pending, though it's unclear how Gonzalez's arrest
will affect the motion.
Wilson was moved to solitary confinement in August while the reports of the relationship were investigated.
According
to court papers, Gonzalez was seen by other inmates going in and out of
Wilson's cell starting in March, meeting him in a vacant activity room
next to his cell when other inmates were supposed to be sleeping.
"I
took a chance because I was so vulnerable and wanted to be loved and
now I am carrying his child," Gonzalez said, according to court papers.
She
said she "kind of got sucked into his world," and that she "felt like,
well, why not give him a child as far as giving him some kind of hope."
She
confessed her relationship with Wilson to a different boyfriend,
another inmate who had been under her supervision at the federal prison
but is now housed at a state facility. She said it was over with Wilson,
and that she was worried she would get into trouble.
After she
became pregnant, Wilson's mother made contact, requesting a sonogram
photo, according to court papers. Gonzalez said she was worried about
the calls because she feared authorities would catch her.
"I know
what's to come. I know what is going to be said about me," she said,
according to court papers. "How am I going to explain this to this
little boy? Mommy was in the military ... Mommy was a C.O., Mommy got
wrapped up ... And then the opposite end is with a person who took
lives. So how do you explain that?"
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
This undated file photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office shows Ronell Wilson who was convicted in the cold-blooded killing of two New York City police officers.
