alt Hacker NewsEasily illustrated with the comparison to burning a piece of paper with evidence in front of an officer trying to obtain it. Though even though the “guilt” there is the burner’s, that there is any guilt to assign at all depends on whether the law had jurisdiction to that paper in that situation.
Knowingly obstructing investigations is illegal even if there isn't an active search warrant
>During the fall of Enron, Arthur Andersen, Enron's accounting firm, instructed its employees to destroy documents relating to Enron after Andersen officials learned they would soon be investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Andersen_LLP_v._United_...
The conviction was overturned, but only on procedural grounds