I understand doing so would be illegal of course but nevertheless if you are a guilty and you know it is it really going to be such a big leap for you to destroy your own incriminating evidence? I might of course be missing something or oversimplifying as well since my only knowledge of the court system is honestly from TV/movies.
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Well in criminal law, you go through a process of discovery, where what each side has is presented to the other. This is stuff like witness lists, evidence that will be presented, police reports etc. Despite client lawyer privilege, if the lawyer/investigator does find physical evidence pertinent to the case, that would need to be presented as part of discovery. If they chose to supress that it could result in a mistrial and the client being tried again with a new lawyer and the lawyer being debared or even jail time. Or in lesser cases the evidence being thrown out and not able to be used in the case.
The same can apply to the prosecution side in a criminal trial. If “the people” are found trying to supress evidence that may cast doubt on the case or choose to blindside the defence with evidence not included in discovery that can result in a mistrial and for the accused to walk in some cases.
In general it depends on the severity of the information that was destroyed or hidden.
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