The reality that leads people to judge in advance of the "trial" is the Vatican's track record. Nobody trusts the Vatican to do a real investigation, nor a truly transparent and just "trial".  The Vatican's record is grim - it has been to protect the clergy, and the higher up the clergy member is in the ranks, the fiercer the protection.  Since most don't trust the Vatican to do the right thing, they are overly prone to find the guy guilty before the Vatican does its investigation and "trial".   The Vatican should have let the US authorities handle this case, just as it would have been far better for the bishops to have brought in the civil authorities when their priests were accused of molesting kids.   Instead, they protected the priests and hid the crimes. The Vatican dragged its feet in the case of the nuncio in the Dominican Republic, until he died. This man is younger, so that strategy might not work again. But, he is unlikely to spend time in prison even if the evidence is there