The former Elmira Jackal convicted of hiring a man to kill his wife has filed an appeal.

Thomas Clayton was convicted of first and second-degree murder last year for the 2015 death of his wife Kelley. He's serving a life sentence without parole.

The Chemung County District Attorney’s Office handled the case as a special prosecutor. They say they weren't surprised by the appeal.

“So right now I’m just in the process of reviewing the lower papers, the transcripts from the lower court, and then will start writing our legal arguments, we get our briefs ready, we will submit that to the appellate division and then after that we’ll be preparing for oral argument,” said Assistant DA Susan Rider-Ulacco.

No date has been set yet for the case to be heard in the Appellate Court in Rochester.