Columbia, Mo. ? The Boone County prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for a former nurse charged with killing 10 patients at a veterans hospital a decade ago.

Prosecutor Kevin Crane told reporters Monday relatives of the patients told him they supported seeking the death penalty for Richard Allen Williams, 36.

Public defender Kathryn Benson, left, talks with Richard Allen Williams following his arraignment in Boone County (Mo.) Circuit Court. Williams, 36, pleaded innocent Monday to 10 counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing patients a decade ago while working as a nurse at the Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital in Columbia, Mo. Boone County Prosecutor Kevin Crane told the court he would seek the death penalty in the case.

The prosecutor also said the deaths fit Missouri law’s requirements for seeking capital punishment, including that the alleged crimes were “outrageous or wantonly vile … in that they involved depravity of mind.”

Crane announced his intention to seek the death penalty in circuit court before Williams pleaded innocent on Monday to 10 counts of first-degree murder.

That mirrored the plea Williams entered last month after he was initially charged by Crane. The prosecutor presented his case against Williams last week to a county grand jury, which then indicted the former nurse on identical charges.

Williams’ public defender, Kathryn Benson, told reporters she was surprised about Crane’s decision to seek the death penalty.

“There is not one shred of direct evidence in this case,” Benson said. “It’s based on a bunch of statistics that are incomplete.”

Prosecutors and the FBI allege Williams was the nurse on duty when all 10 patients were given doses of succinylcholine, a paralyzing muscle relaxant. None had been prescribed the drug.

Benson called the evidence against Williams circumstantial and said the statistics on patient deaths were incomplete because they did not track all hospital staffers with patient care roles.

The patients died between March and July 1992 at the Truman Veterans Administration Hospital in Columbia.

“I have seen nothing to indicate that they were murdered,” Benson said.

In all, 41 patients died in 1992 under Williams’ care. While those deaths were deemed suspicious, usable tissue samples from 1993 exhumations remained from just 10 bodies, authorities said.

A recently developed tissue test found the presence of the muscle relaxant in all 10 deaths, Crane said.

Williams’ plea was entered by Benson. Asked by Circuit Judge Frank Conley whether he agreed with the plea, Williams said, “That’s correct.”

Cindy Owens, daughter of one of the victims, arrived too late for Williams’ court appearance. But when reporters told Owens of Crane’s plan to seek the death penalty, Owens said she didn’t approve of that punishment.

“I don’t believe in the death penalty. I don’t believe that my mom would,” said Owens. “I would prefer him to be in prison.”

Her mother, Agnes Conover, 69, was admitted to the hospital on July 27, 1992, with a history of diabetes and brain swelling.

Conover’s heart and lungs were noted to be fine upon admission. Williams noted checking on Conover during 8:45 a.m. rounds on July 28 and calling for a doctor. She died after being briefly resuscitated. Medical experts say she was given succinylcholine between 8:49 a.m. and 9 a.m.

Crane said he decided to seek the death penalty after conferring with at least one representative of each patient’s family.

“They all approved of this step,” Crane said.

Williams left the VA hospital in early 1994 and is no longer a nurse. Now a resident of St. Charles County, he was arrested at his clerical job with a restaurant company in St. Louis.