AUSTIN, Texas — A man accused in the deaths of six people in a cross-country killing spree is being sent to a maximum-security psychiatric hospital after being found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Judge Brenda Kennedy signed a motion last month ruling that the suspect, Paul Devoe, was mentally incompetent after hearing testimony from two doctors.

Devoe was arrested on Aug. 27, 2007, in his native Long Island, N.Y., after a shooting spree in which five people in Texas and one in Pennsylvania were killed.

Travis County Assistant District Attorney Dayna Blazey said Devoe is "unable to communicate with his defense attorneys," the Austin American-Statesman reported in its online edition Monday. She said doctors anticipate his recovery, after which he is expected to stand trial.