Kansas City, Mo. ? Attorneys for David Wittig, the former chief executive officer of Westar Energy Inc., asked a judge Thursday to release him from prison while he awaits resentencing on a conviction for bank fraud.

They argue that under a worst-case scenario, Wittig could be sentenced to no more than six months – and he’s already been behind bars for twice that long.

The attorneys also noted that a federal appeals court last week overturned a series of convictions in an unrelated wire fraud and money laundering case that had led to an 18-year prison sentence.

“There is no lawful basis for Mr. Wittig’s continued imprisonment,” the attorneys wrote in the motion. “While he acknowledges that further proceedings will occur in the bank case, he respectfully asserts that he already has served the bank case sentence.”

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office said it had not yet seen the motion and declined to comment.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson sent Wittig to prison almost a year ago after determining he had violated the terms of his release while appealing his 2003 conviction for helping hide from bank and regulatory officials a $1.5 million loan he gave to former Topeka bank president Clinton Odell Weidner II.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, but last month ruled that Robinson’s 60-month sentence was too harsh and ordered that Wittig be resentenced to no more than six months.

Federal officials said the earliest Wittig could be resentenced is Feb. 5 because U.S. marshals will have to make arrangements to bring him from a federal prison in Sandstone, Minn.

Robinson also sentenced Wittig to 18 years in prison after he was convicted in September 2004 of conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering as part of a series of schemes prosecutors said were intended to “loot” the Topeka-based Westar of additional compensation without alerting authorities.

The 10th Circuit last week overturned those convictions and said the most serious charges couldn’t be retried.

Wittig’s co-defendant in that case, former chief strategy officer Douglas Lake, already has been free on appeal.

If released, Wittig has agreed not to make any financial transaction of $25,000 or more – a restriction he was accused on violating almost a year ago – and provide authorities with monthly reports on his finances.