Why did we care about the Murdaugh trial?

[Ocelot II]

8. You aren't obligated to care, but it's an interesting and unusual case

because the whole family was very wealthy and had been in bed with the town's law enforcement for decades; they had run the prosecutor's office for three generations. Murdaugh and his relatives were known to have pulled strings with the police and sheriff to keep family members out of trouble, including an incident where the son was involved in a drunk-boating accident that killed a friend. There were two other deaths under questionable circumstances involving the family in the last few years - a friend of the other son was killed in a hit-and-run and the housekeeper "fell" down the stairs. Murdaugh himself stole a ton of money from his law firm and its clients; he even stole the insurance settlement that was supposed to go to the housekeeper's family. The whole family had been dodgy for years but nothing could be done about them. The trial is a story about how rich and well-connected people get away with murder, until maybe they don't. I found it very interesting, not just because I think trials are always interesting, but because there's such a long and strange story behind it.