The former Minneapolis police officer who shot dead Australian life coach Justine Damond in an alley has made a move for freedom with his lawyers, citing potential “prosecutorial misconduct”, filing an appeal against his murder and manslaughter convictions.

The appeal comes as Mohamed Noor, sentenced to 12 and a half years behind bars last month, was transferred to a new prison for “his own safety”.

Noor, 33, had been in Minnesota’s Oak Park Heights prison near his family and friends, but last week was transferred to a facility 720km away in North Dakota.

“The issue on appeal is whether the district court erred by limiting Mr Noor’s right to present a complete defence, allowing the State of Minnesota to engage in prosecutorial misconduct, improperly instructing the jury on murder in the third degree and allowing charges to go to the jury which were not supported by probable cause,” Noor’s lawyers, Thomas Plunkett and Peter Wold, wrote in the appeal lodged in Minnesota’s court of appeals on Tuesday.

Noor shot dead Damond two years ago after she called police after hearing a woman’s screams near an alley at the rear of her Minneapolis home.

When Damond approached Noor’s police vehicle he fired across his partner in the vehicle and out the driver’s side window, hitting her in the stomach. He testified he feared he was being ambushed.

Noor was found guilty in a Minneapolis court in April of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Damond, a 40-year-old originally from Sydney’s northern beaches, moved to Minneapolis after falling in love with the American casino executive Don Damond.

Justine Damond’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Minneapolis and received US$20m (A$28m) just days after the guilty verdicts.

Noor faces a perilous existence in prison as a former police officer.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on Tuesday that Noor was moved to a prison in Bismarck, North Dakota last week.

A Minnesota Department of Corrections spokeswoman, Sarah Fitzgerald, told the newspaper there had been no incidents involving Noor’s safety that forced the move.

Although she added the “totality of his circumstances, including his role as a police officer, were taken into account when determining the best placement for his safety”.