He may associate with the wrong people

It seems to me that there are places and practices in American life that promote guilt by association. I think that I am uncomfortable with deciding that a man who had lunch with a murderer is a murderer.  I realize that an investigation might want to question what those two have in common, how many lunches they have shared, etc.  But of course, a completely innocent man or woman could have some association or other, or even several that is more or less neutral, not association in any way.  As a friend, therapist, investigator myself or a person unaware of misbehavior or the consideration of misbehavior in the future.  Recently, calls have been made for "evidence" and that is indeed what we should look for