Olathe ? A woman serving life in prison for a fire that killed two of her children in 1995 has asked a court to set aside her no-contest pleas.

A lawyer for Debora J. Green filed a motion in Johnson County District Court on Monday that argues that scientific advances in arson investigation challenge the evidence that prosecutors brought against her after the fire at her suburban Kansas City home.

“This testimony was very impressive and played a significant role in obtaining Green’s no-contest plea to arson and murder,” the motion says.

Green, 53, is serving a life sentence at the Topeka Correctional Facility for setting the fire that killed two of her three children.

She also pleaded no contest to trying to kill her third child, who escaped the fire, and to attempting to poison her husband. She avoided a possible death sentence by opting for the plea agreement.

If a judge grants the motion, prosecutors could take Green’s case to trial. By pleading no contest to charges in April 1996, Green did not go on trial.

“Faced with the death penalty, Green chose to enter a no-contest plea to all charges in order to receive a life sentence in prison,” the motion states.

Johnson County Dist. Atty. Paul Morrison, who prosecuted the case, said Monday his office would “vigorously oppose” the effort.

Green, who was a physician, was convicted of setting the fire that destroyed her family’s Prairie Village home in October 1995. Two of her children were trapped in their rooms and died. A third child escaped by climbing out her bedroom window.

Green was also convicted of attempting to murder her estranged husband, Michael Farrar, by poisoning him several times in the months before the fire.

At her plea hearing in April 1996, Green said she did not want to compound the suffering of her family and surviving daughter by going to trial.

“I am aware that the state can produce substantial evidence that I set the fire that caused the death of my children,” she said in court that day. “My attorneys are ready, willing and able to present evidence that I was not in control of myself when (my children) died.”

Farrar, also a doctor, said Monday that he was confident Morrison would handle the matter appropriately so Green “will serve the rest of the sentence she deserves.”