Topeka ? Federal prosecutors have decided not to ask a full appeals court to reconsider a three-member panel’s decision to throw out convictions against two former Westar Energy Inc. executives in the Westar looting case.

Whether the U.S. attorney’s office will seek to retry former Westar Chief Executive officer David Wittig and former Chief Strategy Officer Douglas Lake on some of those charges is still in limbo.

“We’ve got it under consideration, but we’re not at a point where we can say a decision has been made,” said Jim Cross, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, on Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month overturned the 2005 convictions against Wittig and Lake, saying the government’s case that the two sought to hide their personal use of corporate aircraft from securities officials “hung by a thin legal thread.”

Jurors convicted Wittig of 39 counts and Lake of 30 counts. The charges included conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and circumvention of internal controls. Wittig was sentenced to 18 years, and Lake was sentenced to 15 years.

The appeals panel said the most serious charges, including wire fraud and money laundering, couldn’t be retried.

On Tuesday, prosecutors decided not to ask the full court to revisit those decisions.

Wittig still could be retried on a single count of conspiracy and 14 counts of circumvention of internal controls, while Lake could face the conspiracy count and 13 counts of circumvention.

Appeals courts typically handle decisions with three-judge panels and rarely grant rehearings if the panel’s decision is unanimous, as the Westar looting decision was.

The appeals court cleared the way for Wittig to be released from federal prison last week pending his appeal of a two-year prison sentence in an unrelated bank fraud case. A federal judge sent Wittig back to prison last year after determining he had violated terms of his release.