Even with the timeline you laid out, it’s unclear to me. Legally speaking, unless I’m wrong about what “destruction of evidence” means, and unless CBP has evidence that evidence of a crime was on the device, I don’t think they can make a successful destruction of evidence case. In other words, if CBP lacked knowledge of what data was stored on the device, it would have been wrong for them to arrest the person for destruction of evidence.
I’m hoping the upcoming TWIP #31 will discuss the legal aspects of this case.
For clarification, my paragraph about the 5th Amendment was in response to someone’s question about disclosing passwords, not wiping data off devices. Further, I’m unsure how effective the 5th Amendment is at protecting against forced disclosure in practice. After my post, this was mentioned.