[JumpCrisscross]

> If he was smart enough to let the agents type in the pin themselves then they're the ones who wiped the phone, not him

There are interesting legal and ethical questions involved here. But this argument is silly to the point of making the entire case look silly.

[spottedmarley]

More silly than sending a man to prison for wiping his phone? I think your silly detector may need a firmware update.

[JumpCrisscross]

> More silly than sending a man to prison for wiping his phone?

Invert the sympathies. An ICE agent or pedophile is arrested and pulls this stunt. Is that seriously protected behaviour?

To be clear, I don't think the agents should be allowed to even request a PIN, much less after refusing demands to speak to a lawyer. But normalising desrruction of evidence is a direct undermining of the rule of law in proportion to one's access to resources.