[owsley]

I don't know all that much about law, but give the definition from wikipedia this does not seem like premeditated murder at all:

"Premeditated murder is the crime of wrongfully causing the death of another human being (also known as murder) after rationally considering the timing or method of doing so, in order to either increase the likelihood of success, or to evade detection or apprehension."

I don't know the specific definitions of 2nd/3rd degree murders and manslaughters, but one of them has to fit the description of what horn did better than premeditated murder. Especially given the last part of the definition.

I agree with your 2nd paragraph.