# No poet, artist or composer in history has ever committed a calculated, first-degree murder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813 "2018-01-03T19:42:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/82 "2018-01-08T14:19:45Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Nobody has come up with a true counterexample. Carlo Gesualdo killed his wife and her lover when he found them in flagrante. And then went back a second time to make sure they were dead. And then mutilated the bodies. So neither premeditated nor calculated but more than a mere moment of rage. The story of him subsequently “rocking to death” his wife’s illegitimate child, which if true would apply to the OP, appears to be now considered apocryphal. ISTR there is some speculation that William S Burroughs’ shooting of his wife was not, as previously accepted, a drunken accident, but rather that he intentionally set up the William Tell scenario to provide cover for killing her. Burroughs subsequently claimed he had dropped the gun and it had accidentally gone off, and other witnesses said the gun had gone off when Burroughs was checking to see if it was loaded. Burroughs was convicted of homicide in absentia but the truth of the matter remains unclear, particularly given the amount of alcohol and drugs being used by all at the party in question. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/83 "2018-01-08T17:28:46Z")
I submit Jackson Pollock for perusal. I know it was a drinking and driving thing, but it bugs me that he killed an unrelated innocent person in doing it. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/84 "2018-01-08T17:32:37Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > [Varg Vikernes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varg_Vikernes#Murder_of_%C3%98ystein_Aarseth), a Norwegian black metal musician, killed fellow musician Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth. According to Snorre “Blackthorn” Ruch, who drove with Vikernes to Aarseth’s apartment, the murder was planned in advance by Vikernes; the latter, however, claims it was in self-defense. Before that, Euronymous had been the first to find the body of Dead, the singer in Mayhem, who killed himself. He made a stew out of an organ, I think the brain, and ate some of it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/85 "2018-01-08T17:34:20Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/86 "2018-01-08T18:13:38Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > I submit Jackson Pollock for perusal. I know it was a drinking and driving thing, but it bugs me that he killed an unrelated innocent person in doing it. Certainly not a calculated, first-degree murder. ---
**Author:** ![Corner\_Case](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/corner_case/32/234_2.png) [@Corner\_Case](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corner_Case)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813/87 "2018-01-08T18:58:35Z")
Salieri was a composer (and apparently a police officer) and killed Mozart - [Last Action Hero - He killed Mozart! - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5egsTEUS17s) (YouTube, 32s) 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-poet-artist-or-composer-in-history-has-ever-committed-a-calculated-first-degree-murder/805813.md?page=4)