From a lawyer reader:

Just to split hairs, I think perhaps the media use alleged criminal to mean not convicted and thus can’t properly use the term murderer. Until convicted Brian Nichols is not a murderer, he is a killer. Killer being a factual statement, he shot three people who died as a direct result of being shot. Soldiers are killers, some policemen are killers, if I kill someone in defense of my life or another, I am a killer. a murder is an unlawful killing, so until a court and/or jury convicts a killer of committing murder, they are just a killer. I think I said this to you before, OJ is not a murderer, he may be a killer. Same would work if OJ had been convicted of murder but in fact had not killed anyone, he would still be a murderer until the conviction were overturned. I am probably given the media too much credit, they probably are using “alleged” to cover themselves in case of lawsuit by suspects in the event of their acquittal who could then sue for slander/libel for being called on tv or printed on-line or in a paper, a rapist, a murderer, etc.