Federal prosecutors asked a judge Tuesday to cut nearly all of a potential $562 million fine against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in a criminal case alleging the utility violated pipeline safety regulations before a deadly natural gas explosion in San Bruno and later obstructed investigators looking into the blast.

Shortly after the government’s filing, federal judge Thelton Henderson approved the dismissal of enhanced fines, and PG&E agreed.

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Stanford Law Professor Robert Weisberg said in an emailed response that the government may be “anticipating or, in effect, inducing a jury compromise (a kind of indirect settlement).”

“Perhaps it fears that the jury would perceive it as having asked for too much … and it views this move as tempting the jury to convict on a lesser sentence and just end things,” Weisberg said.