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Costa Mesa Man Charged With Ambush Slayings Of Ex-Wife, In-Law

NEWPORT BEACH (AP) — Orange County prosecutors have charged a 36-year-old man with murdering his ex-wife and her father in an ambush as they arrived at his home to take court-ordered custody of the former couple's 7-year-old daughter.

A district attorney's statement says Robert Allan Lehmann of Costa Mesa faces arraignment Thursday in Newport Beach on two counts of special-circumstances murder with sentencing enhancements for personal use of a deadly weapon, multiple murders and lying in wait.

Prosecutors say that on Tuesday a judge granted custody of the 7-year-old to Lehmann's ex-wife, Emily Ford, and she and her father, Russell Ford, went to Lehmann's home to pick her up.

Lehmann is alleged to have shot them on arrival and as they attempted to flee, then reloaded and executed them as they lay bleeding on the ground.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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