In general yes, but it takes on a different form when the person is an eccentric that has very publicly challenged powerful authorities and has been both the source and target of disinformation campaigns.
I probably won't describe someone as evil for committing victimless crimes. But MPDV is a hard drug that's connected to serious, graphic crimes. I believe he was involved with trafficked women in third-party countries, that's rape. So I easily believe both the murder and rape accusations.
Open and shut case then. So unattributed "reported" anecdotes on the internet are all it takes these days, huh. No wonder it's so easy to smear and bury people.
Everyone here on HN is so strict about online security and providence and yet assign truth to a story based on anonymous anecdotes.