LITCHFIELD — A Lyme man killed in a one-car crash in East Haddam Tuesday morning was scheduled to be in Superior Court in Litchfield later in the morning to begin serving a 10-year prison sentence for shooting his then-wife in 2009.

John Joseph Lavoie, 60, appealed his first-degree assault conviction and remained free as his appeals moved forward. When they were denied, he was ordered to report Tuesday to begin his sentence.

Lavoie, who was a paraplegic from an injury he suffered in the mid-1970s, was killed about 8 a.m. when his 2014 Dodge Caravan drove off of Route 82 and slammed into a tree. State police said their investigation into the crash is continuing.

His trial attorney, Rachel Baird of Harwinton, said Tuesday that Lavoie complained about the care he received from the Department of Correction when he was incarcerated immediately after the shooting. She said he was also the type of person to speak up if he believed accommodations for people with disabilities did not comply with the law.

Lavoie was convicted at trial of shooting his then-wife, Shelly Lavoie. He became angry after discovering she was having an affair with the man he'd hired to maintain the grounds around their East Litchfield home. His wife drove herself to a hospital in Torrington for treatment. After the shooting, Lavoie held police at bay for about nine hours before surrendering.

Although he made several admissions to police about shooting his wife, he claimed at trial that the shooting was an accident.