If he did not commit a crime, would he not do so, and this be the most normal thing he can do?
The answer is yes
Now there is no distinction in between a normal employee leaving the company and a criminal following your logic.
Every time I see people going for such argument, I almost feel my sight getting dark, but people who can shove such line of thought into a legal argument in a criminal case are found left and right in the West.
If all of the evidence the FBI has is what was in the SCMP article, then there is no way the jury is going to come to a guilty verdict.
But it is doubtful that the SCMP has squeezed information out of the FBI before the court case. Once the court case happens we will see all the evidence that the FBI has gathered, which probably demonstrates much more clearly that he is guilty. It doesn't make sense to discuss hypotheticals until we at least have the evidence.
It also doesn't make sense to fear getting convicted based on deleting some files unless he is actually convicted on this flimsy evidence. But again, this is unlikely -- if you would not convict someone based solely on this evidence, then why do you think anyone else would decide on a guilty verdict?
(Keep in mind that the information in the affidavit [1] "is
intended to show merely that there is sufficient probable cause for the requested warrant" and doesn't include all of the evidence that they have.)
If he did not commit a crime, would he not do so, and this be the most normal thing he can do?
The answer is yes
Now there is no distinction in between a normal employee leaving the company and a criminal following your logic.
Every time I see people going for such argument, I almost feel my sight getting dark, but people who can shove such line of thought into a legal argument in a criminal case are found left and right in the West.
I would've liked to put much stronger terms here.