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And this is why he isn't being charged with destruction of evidence. He is being charged with destruction of property subject to a civil seizure.

The only reason they can charge him with this is that he destroyed it after being notified that it was being seized. If he has deleted it before then there would be nothing they could charge him with.

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Right, but I think what makes this interesting is the destruction happened only after violating his civil rights. Had they simply seized the device the data wouldn't have been destroyed. He refused to give them the pass code several times before giving them the wiping code. He asked to leave and see a lawyer multiple times, which they refused to provide him with one. They held him, illegally, until he gave them his phone pass code.

And the whole reason they wanted in his phone (the real reason) was to figure out who he worked with in the stop cop city protest. That's why he was really targeted in the first place.

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