News reports on accusations that Andreas Lubitz, the Germanwings co-pilot, purposely brought down Flight 9525 over the French Alps have rushed to convict him.

¡°Andreas Lubitz (27), the Amok Pilot,¡± ran a banner headline in Bild, Germany¡¯s most popular tabloid. ¡°Killer in the Cockpit,¡± screamed London¡¯s Daily Mail. But The Independent went it one better: ¡°Mass Murder from the Cockpit.¡± Other tabloids offered more in that vein: ¡°madman,¡± ¡°jilted pilot,¡± ¡°why on earth was he allowed to fly?¡±

All because Marseilles prosecutor Brice Robin saw fit to announce that the co-pilot ¡°wanted to destroy the aircraft.¡± The evidence that led him to that conclusion came from the plane¡¯s cockpit audio recorder.