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For several weeks, a restaurant owner suspected that a former business partner was stealing customers. The owner sent text messages saying, "One day I will make him pay." One night, the owner saw the former partner in the restaurant parking lot arguing loudly with the owner's spouse. The former partner shoved the spouse to the ground. The owner ran into the restaurant, took a pistol from an office safe, returned to the parking lot about four minutes later, and shot the former partner twice in the chest.
The former partner died at the scene. The owner says he acted in a sudden rage after seeing the spouse pushed. Prosecutors argue that the prior threats, the trip to the office, and the deliberate firing of two shots show murder rather than manslaughter.
Analyze the most serious homicide offense the owner is likely to face, including malice, deliberation, adequate provocation, cooling time, and voluntary manslaughter mitigation.