I, too, am curious as to what propels this sort of story to such widespread attention. I recall a case in 1997 involving a baby who died at the hands of a babysitter. One would think that such a story would generate little or no interest outside the community where it took place, yet for weeks on end, it was one of the top news stories, if not the top news story, in the nation.
Much of what propelled this case to such high attention is the fact that in the early days of the case, Mike Nifong was a complete media whore and made around 70 media appearances, before the investigation was anything like complete and before any indictments. The many completely inappropriate statements he made in these appearances, combined with their later repudiation ("the DNA will tell the story" to "well, we don't need DNA to get a rape conviction" is the big example), combined with holes in the alledged "victim's" story and timeline big enough to drive an M1 tank though, made it obvious to thinking observers that the Dukelax guys were getting railroaded.
People getting railroaded by a malicious prosecutor pumping up a non-existent case to support a political agenda gets my attention. I'm not a fan of lying and abuse of power, and hope to see it repudiated. That's why I've been paying attention.
The obvious misuse of prosecutorial power is what makes this case so different than the others cited.