Melanie Sue Snyder who hacked her husband with an ax in 2017 has lost her appeal and will serve a 20-to-40-year sentence on murder conviction

She attacked her husband with an ax in front of their terrified children aged 17, 13 and 6

Melanie waited until Thomas Snyder was asleep, then she grabbed an ax from the shed and hacked three times in the neck at their Armstrong home

Their 17-year-old daughter suffered injuries trying unsuccessfully, to wrestle the ax from her mom, in the middle of the attack

Last year, Snyder, 44, pled guilty to third-degree murder after Thomas died

Thomas Synder, 41, survived the attack but died six months later from pneumonia that investigators said was a complication from grievous wounds his wife inflicted

Snyder’s appeal was denied on Monday after a judge reminded her of her admission of attacking Thomas with the ax because she was angry with him – fully aware that it could result in his death

A Pennsylvania woman, who hacked her husband with an ax in front of their terrified children, has lost an appeal and will serve a 20-to-40-year prison sentence on a murder conviction after arguing that her attack didn’t cause his death six months later.    
Attorneys for Melanie Sue Snyder filed an appeal on her behalf that claimed there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that she actually caused the death of her 41-year-old husband Thomas. 
During the July 2017 attack, Synder waited until her husband was in bed to strike him with the ax on the neck at least three times at their Armstrong home. 

Thomas managed to survive the attack and rushed to UPMC Presbyterian after his 17-year-old daughter called 911. The teenager and her brother, 13, were awakened by the attack. The couple also had their younger son who was six years old at the time in the home.
At the time, the girl told a dispatch that there was a struggle to get the 18-inch camp ax from her mother before she struck Thomas.  
The teens and their six-year-old sibling then fled their home and went to a neighbor’s house. 
Authorities said the 17-year-old suffered injuries during the struggle, but they weren’t life threatening. 

Though Thomas survived the attack at the home, he died six months later from pneumonia that investigators said was a complication from the grievous wounds his wife inflicted.
Police described Snyder as calm and emotionless when they found her walking up the street with a blood-stained T-shirt that read: ‘Nope, not today.’
She was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and other charges.   
Though Thomas survived the attack, he died six months later from pneumonia that investigators said was a complication from the grievous wounds his wife inflicted.  
Last year, Snyder, now 44, pled guilty to third-degree murder.
According to PennLive,
nyder told the county judge at her sentencing hearing that she got the ax from the shed and attacked Thomas because she was angry with him.

Judge Judith Ference Olson noted that statement in the Superior Court’s opinion denying Snyder’s appeal. 
Snyder’s attorneys challenged the prosecution’s argument that the wounds she caused led directly to her husband’s death. 
But Olson said that claim is undermined by Snyder’s admission when she pled guilty that the evidence would have been sufficient to convict her of murder if her case went to trial.
The judge also noted that Snyder admitted to knowing that hitting someone repeatedly with an ax could likely cause death.