OAKLAND, Calif. -- A judge has dismissed a special circumstance allegation of lying in wait against an American Canyon man who was ordered to stand trial for the execution-style slaying of his estranged wife outside an Oakland church.

The action means that 43-year-old Matthew McCall cannot be sentenced to death in the March 2007 slaying of Tanya McCall, 40, who was gunned down at close range in the parking lot of Oakland's Acts Full Gospel Church.

Linda Fullerton, McCall's lawyer, confirmed Thursday that Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carlos Ynostroza had ruled that there was enough evidence for her client to stand trial on charges of murder, use of a firearm and being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm.

But not enough to allow the jury to consider whether or not McCall should be sent to death row. Prosecutor L.D. Louis couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

At the preliminary hearing, usher Karen Bellamy told the court she was getting ready for a service at the church, which is located at 1034 66th Ave. in East Oakland, at about 7:50 a.m. when she heard "a loud sound" that sounded like "pow, pow, pow."

Bellamy said she saw a man she later identified as Matthew McCall standing in the church's parking lot about 35 feet away from where she was standing in the church's foyer.

She heard two or three shots initially, then four or five more shots after the man re-loaded his gun.

Bellamy testified that the man leaned over and got closer and closer to his target as he fired, as if he wanted to make sure he didn't miss. She said the man's gun was only two feet above the ground when he fired his last shot.

After the shooting incident last year, Oakland police homicide Sgt. Tony Jones said Tanya McCall had filed for a divorce from Matthew McCall in November of 2006 and the couple argued over how to divide what he described as their "large estate."

Jones said Tanya McCall obtained a restraining order against her husband on March 5, 2007, only six days before she was killed, saying in court papers that she was afraid for her safety and that he had killed someone in the past, apparently referring to his manslaughter conviction.