[Doctor Stochastic]

One need not say suspect after conviction. There is no longer any presumption of innocence. It's probably just inertia.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

I believe the legal responsibility to not smear the name of the accused ends when there's a guilty verdict. I think this is liberalism run a-muck.

[Palladin]

This just proves the ignorance and laziness of the current crop of publc-schooled newsies.

[Cicero]

I suspect they are used to sitting down near the beginning of a story and working out what the politically correct language is. Maybe they consult the latest Language Police Bulletin, just as they used to consult their newspaper's style sheet. But after you've learned the ropes you seldom have to pull out the style sheet or bulletin, since it becomes second nature to follow them.

So, they never have to think about it again. I'd say inertia, too.

[sultan88]

I just heard the local Richmond news broadcast and they called him "Sniper John Mohammed" without the "suspect" adjective.

[Sabertooth]

I'd say that, now that 12 of his peers have found him guilty of one count of Capital Murder, One count of Murder in an Act of Terrorism, and two other counts, he's not a suspect any more. . .

John Muhummad is a convicted Muslim terrorist.

Now is the time to expose his connections to Jamaat al Fuqra, the American Muslim terrorist org implicated in the 1993 WTC bombing, and founded by Sheikh Gilani, a Pakistani terror lord and a mentor of Osama bin Laden.

[RebelBanker]

I heard it too. Sounds like habit more than anything else.

[auboy]

Many of today's "reporters" are from a parallel universe. Or I should say, a perpendicular one - a universe completely devoid of common sense and decency. I think it's called Liberalamous.

[AdamSelene235]

The BBC refers to him as Ex-Soldier.

[tbpiper]

I think is news speak inirtia. They've been calling him 'sniper suspect' so long, it's part of his name.

[american spirit]

I already know the answer but I'll ask this question anyway....was the hate crime element for any of the murders ever introduced at all in this case?

[NavyCaptain]

Amen, brother!

[HitmanLV]

Once he is convicted he is no longer the suspect, I would think.

There is no conspiracy or mindset here. Before a conviction they have a duty to call him a suspect. In the minutes, hours, and even days after a conviction, often force of habit takes over. They have been calling him the suspect for a year - old habits die hard. Don't get upset over this. It's a non-issue.

[Wolfstar]

What's really bugging me lately about news "reporting" is that most in the media have adopted the term "insurgents" to describe the terrorists who are attacking our soldiers in Iraq.

[MattAMiller]

I've noticed that the word suspect has come to include a secondary definition that's essentially the same as "perpetrator." You'll often hear reporters saying things like "The suspect shot four people." I think they've just gotten used to covering their butts and overuse the word.

[LikeLight]

This same scenario has occurred before . . . I think it's a symptom of the death of truth in our society . . . how can we call someone guilty just because he was tried and convicted in a court of law? . . . who are these jurors to dare judge another man's actions? . . . what may be true for you is not necessarily true for me . . . people have become so PC, so accustomed to avoiding any confrontation with truth, that an institution like a criminal court seems bizarre and unnatural . . . almost an archaic relic from a different age . . . hence, they cling to the term "suspect" even after conviction . . .

[judywillow]

The D.C. snipers are nothing more than an extreme case of ideas having consequences. In other words, if you put five or ten thousand guys with two-digit IQs in front of death-to-america sermons long enough, this was predictable.

Why isn't anybody going after the clowns out there in LA who were and probably still are PREACHING the death-to-america sermons? They make it sound like this was a gun-control isssue but, as far as I can tell, it's basically an

ISLAM-CONTROL

issue.