I'm just saying, they're not charging him with silence, which is a right and he is permitted to remain silent.
He didn't say, no thank you, to their request for the pin. He didn't claim his right to silence and an attorney. He provided false testimony, in a pin that wasn't the right pin, and that pin destroyed evidence. At least thats how the prosecution is seeing it. You can't argue against a crime you're not charged with.
You have to take on the charges directly. How do you argue that it wasn't lying about what the pin was/did? It was. It was a trick pin. It caused a destruction of evidence. It was his intention. Maybe this new charge is less than the charge they would give him if they found the content on the phone, but it's not inaccurate to say he took these actions. If the court agrees he took these actions and that these actions are against some code or another, which seems likely, then they will convict.
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The prosecution’s framing assumes intent, but intent is the hardest element to prove in this entire case. He was asked for “the PIN” under coercive conditions, and he provided a PIN. They didn’t specify which PIN, and they didn’t instruct him to unlock the device — they just demanded a PIN.
A duress PIN is designed for situations where a person feels threatened or pressured, and the environment he was in absolutely qualifies as coercive. That makes it extremely difficult to argue that he knowingly and intentionally provided a PIN for the purpose of destroying evidence.
The statute they’re using requires proving intent beyond a reasonable doubt. If he was confused, panicked, felt threatened, or believed they simply wanted a PIN, any PIN, that undermines the prosecution’s entire theory.
So yes, he gave them a PIN, and yes, the device wiped. But proving that he intended to obstruct rather than comply is a very steep hill for the prosecution to climb.