DONALDSONVILLE — A man accused of killing a state trooper and a female relative during a three-parish rampage in October 2021 is mentally competent to face a capital murder charge, despite concerns from some of the doctors who examined him that he might have trouble withstanding the stress of a trial.

Matthew Mire is accused of killing Master Trooper Adam Gaubert while the State Police officer was parked behind a bank in Prairieville. Mire then killed Pamela Adair at a nearby home. Mire was related to Adair by marriage.

District Judge Jason Verdigets ruled last week that Mire is capable of assisting his defense team at trial, and that the case should move forward. 

Mire "did not prove his incompetency to proceed to trial by a preponderance of the evidence" and failed to show that he was neither sane nor incompetent," Verdigets wrote in a decision Aug. 22.

Various doctors said Mire suffered from anxiety, depression and paranoia and that his methamphetamine use clouded his judgment. They differered on whether he could effectively assist his defense lawyers.

According to prosecutors, Mire shot at his neighbors in Livingston Parish and then drove to Ascension Parish, where he came upon Gaubert before going to the home where Adair lived. After those shootings, he was the subject of a daylong manhunt in East Baton Rouge Parish that ended along Hoo Shoo Too Road. 

Prosecutors opted to try Mire in Ascension Parish, where the killings occurred. District Attorney Ricky Babin has said he will seek Mire's execution.

Gaubert was shot in the overnight hours but because of the "radio silence" maintained during the search for Mire, no one realized for 15 hours that he had not reported in. State Police leaders said the delay involved "absolutely unacceptable" communication failures.