Alexandria, Va. ? Prosecutors asked a judge Wednesday to reconsider her decision to toss out half of the government’s case against confessed terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. They acknowledged that altering the judge’s ruling is their only hope of salvaging the death-penalty case.

In a motion filed with U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, prosecutors said the aviation security evidence she barred because a government lawyer coached the witnesses “goes to the very core of our theory of the case.”

At the very least, the prosecutors argued they should be allowed to present a newly designated aviation security witness who had no contact with the offending lawyer, Carla J. Martin of the Transportation Security Administration. They said this would “allow us to present our complete theory of the case, albeit in imperfect form.”

“The public has a strong interest in seeing and hearing it (aviation security evidence), and the court should not eliminate it from the case, particularly not … where other remedies are available,” they wrote Brinkema.

There was no immediate response from the judge, but she had indicated late Tuesday that she had time available today to consider such a motion if it were made.

The only person charged in this country with the 9-11 attacks, Moussaoui pleaded guilty last April to conspiring with al-Qaida to fly airplanes into U.S. buildings. But he denies any involvement in 9-11.

Prosecutors have acknowledged they may have no viable case if Brinkema’s ruling stands.