Convicted murderer Richie Edwin Wilder Jr. is appealing a judicial order to the North Dakota Supreme Court that forbids him from having contact with his two children by the woman he murdered while they are still minors.

Wilder’s lawyer, Raissa Carpenter, has filed a notice of appeal of Judge Gary Lee’s order. The appeal is dated Sept. 20 and was filed with the district court in Minot on Monday.

Judge Gary Lee had originally ordered a lifetime ban on contact between Wilder and his daughter and son, who were 12 and 6, respectively, at the time of his sentencing hearing in May. But Lee amended the no contact order in a ruling issued Sept. 18, and said he will allow the children to make up their minds about whether to contact their father when they become adults.

Carpenter had argued that the no contact order with the children is illegal because it is not authorized by state statute. She also argued that the state’s new Marsy’s Law protecting victim rights does not apply here because Wilder murdered the children’s mother before Marsy’s Law was in effect. Laws cannot be applied retroactively. Carpenter also noted that no one had asserted Marsy’s Law protections on behalf of the Wilder children and Marsy’s Law requires that rights be asserted before they are in effect.

Lee rejected those arguments and said in his decision that judges have the power to fashion remedies to protect victims of violent crime from having contact with a violent offender, even without legislative authorization, and he had asserted those protections on behalf of the two children.

The children are currently in the custody of their maternal grandmother out of state.

Their temporary legal guardian at the time of the May sentencing hearing was their stepmother, Cynthia Wilder, who was subsequently arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly helping Richie Wilder Jr. plan the November 2015 murder of his ex-wife, Angila Wilder, and then covering it up.

The children were staying with their father and stepmother at the apartment on the night of the murder. Richie Wilder Jr. snuck into Angila Wilder’s residence and stabbed the pregnant woman multiple times in her bedroom. He then left the residence, leaving Angila Wilder’s 2-year-old son alone in the house with his dead mother. The toddler was discovered hours later when his father, Angila Wilder’s live-in boyfriend, came home from working the overnight shift at Walmart and discovered his door had been kicked in.

Richie Wilder Jr. had a contentious relationship with Angila Wilder. They battled over custody of their children, a daughter from her previous relationship whom he had adopted and the son they had together. Richie Wilder Jr. had also been convicted of domestic violence against Angila Wilder during their marriage. Richie Wilder Jr. and Cynthia Wilder have a nearly 4-year-old daughter together who is living out of state with her paternal grandfather.

Richie Wilder Jr. is also appealing his murder conviction to the North Dakota Supreme Court and wants a new trial.