I'm not even trying to be edgy or outrageous, it was chilling, unforgettable and almost inspiring. He was swept away by a perfect storm of political corruption (from allies that abandoned him out of fear), media corruption (which wanted to make a spectacle of him), legal corruption (from a judge that saw this trial as his moment in the sun), and nihilism, with Budd being worth more to his family as a dead insurance policy holder than as a disgraced prison inmate.