Michelle Carter formally appealed her prison sentence Thursday after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III. Carter’s attorney, Joseph Cataldo, filed the notice of appeal with a judge in Bristol County court.

“The defendant gives notice … of her intent to appeal certain opinions, rulings, directions and judgments of the Court,” court documents obtained by Radar Online said.

Carter, 20, received a split sentence August 3 of two and a half years behind bars and probation after a contentious trial in which thousands of text messages from Carter to Roy were read by the prosecution. In the text messages, Carter repeatedly urged Roy to take his own life, offering suggestions about how he should commit suicide and expressing frustration that he hadn’t done so yet.

Roy committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 18. Carter was on the phone with Roy at the time of his death, according to court proceedings, and urged him to get back in his truck and finish his suicide when he got scared and attempted to get out.

Following her sentencing, Carter was allowed to leave with her family pending an appeal. The judge issued a stay in the sentencing and ruled that Carter would stay out of prison until her appeal was completed. Both the sentencing and Carter's conviction proved controversial: The high profile case was one of the first to weigh in on whether a party could be responsible for death via text message. Roy’s family urged the judge to give Carter a full 20 years behind bars.

“Take away the spotlight she so desperately craves,” Roy’s aunt, Kim Bozzi, said in a statement to the judge before sentencing. “Twenty years may seem extreme, but it is still twenty more than Conrad will ever have.”

Carter’s family, on the other hand, pleaded for leniency on her behalf.

“She will forever live with what she has done and I know will be a better person because of it,” her father wrote in a July letter. “I ask of you to invoke leniency in your decision-making process for my loving child Michelle.”

Amid Carter’s sentencing and appeal, Roy’s mother, Lynn Roy, filed a $4.2 million lawsuit against Carter for “gross negligence” and “willful, wanton and reckless conduct.”

“Miss Carter knew that Mr. Roy had a history of attempted suicides and was being treated for mental health issues including severe depression,” the lawsuit stated, according to documents obtained by Radar Online. “During the months and weeks prior to his death, Conrad H. Roy III exchanged communication with the Defendant, Michelle Carter, in which Ms. Carter encouraged Mr. Roy to kill himself and chastised him for delaying the act.”

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