REGINA — The Crown has asked Canada's highest court to review the recent jury verdict that allows convicted murderer Colin Thatcher a chance at early parole.

The leave to appeal papers were filed Friday afternoon, said Justice Department spokeswoman Deb McEwen, who couldn't comment further.

Thatcher, a former Saskatchewan cabinet minister, is serving a life sentence for the 1983 first-degree murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson, in a headline-grabbing case that spawned books and a TV movie.

Thatcher's lawyer Darin Chow said appealing a faint-hope verdict is different from appealing a conviction because it bypasses the provincial court of appeal and goes right to the Supreme Court.

If the Supreme Court decides the appeal can proceed, it will then also hear the case, said Chow.

"I'm somewhat surprised (by the appeal) on a personal level just because I was quite comfortable with the way that the proceedings went," Chow said.

Chow said he had not spoken with Thatcher but did speak with his family.

"They were certainly disappointed to learn that it was going ahead," he said. "To now have the matter appealed is really quite frustrating for them."

He said no application to put the faint-hope decision on hold has been made and there is nothing stopping Thatcher from applying for parole while the Supreme Court is deciding.

Anthony Wilson, JoAnn's second husband, was pleased to hear that the Crown is appealing.

"I've always felt that he should serve out the full term of his sentence," Wilson said in an interview from his home in Pittsburgh.

"Obviously he has not repented. As much as he doesn't choose to repent, then I don't see that he qualifies under the terms that they let people out."

Thatcher won the right to ask for early parole at a faint-hope hearing in October in his hometown of Moose Jaw, Sask.

Normally, lifers can't ask for early parole until they have served 25 years of their sentence but the faint-hope clause in the Criminal Code allows them to seek it after 15 as an incentive to turn their lives around.

The final decision on any parole bid still rests with the National Parole Board.

Thatcher was convicted in 1984 after Wilson was found beaten and shot to death on the garage floor of her Regina home following the couple's bitter breakup.

In asking the jury for early parole in October, Thatcher, 65, said his spirit had been broken in prison and he just wanted to live out his days in his home community.

The jurors reached their decision in under two hours and the Crown lawyer at the time, Bill Burge, said the victim impact statements from Thatcher's children, which he described as "dramatic pleas for mercy," had an effect.

Thatcher testified about growing up as the son of then-premier Ross Thatcher as well as his rocky relationship with Wilson.

He talked about his last two decades in jail, where he witnessed stabbings and murders, pumped iron to stay sane, wrote a book, rode horses, raised cattle and learned the ins and outs of electrical wiring from a Hells Angel.

He continued to refuse to acknowledge his guilt in Wilson's death and admitted he took treatment programs in prison largely as an exercise in "resume-building" to improve his security rating and, by extension, his bid for early release.

But he was also described as a model, responsible prisoner with a new-found interest in religion. His pastor testified Thatcher had changed from an arrogant cynic to a gentle, more caring individual.

This was Thatcher's second bid at faint hope. His first bid failed in 2000.

Without faint hope, Thatcher can't seek parole until May 7, 2009.