HOUSTON — A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from a 54-year-old man condemned for killing two teenagers near Austin during a 2007 crime binge that left six people dead.

Paul Devoe argued unsuccessfully to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that lawyers at his 2009 trial were deficient and that a state prison expert gave false and misleading testimony.

The decision Tuesday moves Devoe a step closer to execution.

Devoe was convicted of killing 15-year-old Haylie Faulkner and 17-year-old Danielle Hensley in Jonestown, northwest of Austin. Faulkner’s mother and Devoe’s ex-girlfriend also was killed, along with her boyfriend.

Prosecutors also tied Devoe to the slayings of a Central Texas bartender and an 81-year-old Pennsylvania woman whose car Devoe stole. Devoe was captured in his native Long Island, New York.