SAN ANTONIO (November 22, 2009)--A military judge has found a former Air Force nurse who was accused of killing three terminally ill patients not guilty of murder.

Capt. Michael Fontana was accused of administering excessive dosages of painkillers to speed the patients' deaths, but presiding over the court-martial Saturday, Col. William Burd said Fontana was not guilty on all counts.

After the ruling, Fontana said he never regretted the treatment that he gave and that he hopes he can return to nursing.

Fontana has been in the Air Force since 2006 and served a tour in Iraq in 2007.

He worked as an intensive care nurse at Wilford Hall, which primarily serves military personnel and retirees, but provides emergency and trauma care to some civilians.

Military prosecutors argued that he killed three terminally ill patients with excessive medication because they weren't dying quickly enough.

Prosecutors told Burd that Fontana wanted other nurses to be "more aggressive" with end-of-life patients, but Fontana's attorney says the amount of medicine administered fell within Air Force guidelines and doctors at Wilford Hall Medical Center gave vague orders.