The news media always say “allegedly” about any criminal act. They do this until someone is convicted in a court of law of the criminal act.
I don’t know if they do this for legal reasons, or why this is the case. But to the media, everything that happens is alleged, until someone is convicted.
The use of the term “alleged” when describing someone who committed a crime, regardless of how damning the evidence is against them, stems from a concern that if news reports assign guilt with certainty, them the defendant could later argue that his conviction was the result of a jury prejudiced by his having already been convicted in the press.
yeah it is the same stupid reason they say “person of interest” instead of suspect.
There was a lawsuit, years ago, I think it was the olympic park incident and Richard Jewel if I recall. Labeled him a suspect and he was innocent, he sued and won.