At this time of year, it’s only natural to reflect on the things in life for which we are grateful. Sure, I’m thankful for the same things most people are—good health for me and my loved ones, a fulfilling career, and so on. But I’m also grateful for the never-ending parade of weirdness in the legal system, which translates to an endless supply of fodder for this column.

I’m thankful, for example, for the occasional examples of irony or even poetic justice that come our way. In May, South Carolina police found the body of 60-year-old Joseph Anthony McKinnon. Nearby, in a freshly dug pit, they found the body of his live-in companion, 65-year-old Patricia Ruth Dent, who’d been strangled. Police believe McKinnon killed Dent, dug a makeshift grave to dispose of the body, only to die of a heart attack as he buried her. Now that’s poetic justice.