Is Destroying a Recording a Crime, Even If You Made It Legally?

These laws exist to stop people from interfering with criminal investigations or court cases. They make it illegal to destroy, alter, or hide evidence if you know an official investigation or legal proceeding is already happening or about to start. The focus is on your awareness of the official investigation or case, not on whether you expected a future civil lawsuit. For example, if you recorded an assault and later learn police are questioning the people involved, deleting that recording could cross into criminal territory if you erase it after that point. The law looks at what you knew at the time of deletion, not just whether you recorded the video legally in the first place.

Civil spoliation rules usually apply when one side in a lawsuit deletes evidence that could have been used in that lawsuit. Those rules lead to penalties like having the evidence presumed against you or paying fines, but they don’t create criminal charges. Criminal evidence-tampering laws, on the other hand, can lead to jail time if you destroy evidence with knowledge that an official investigation or legal proceeding is pending or about to begin. The stakes are much higher because the government can bring criminal charges against the person who deleted the evidence. This is why it matters whether you knew about the official investigation or case when you deleted the recording.

The law doesn’t require certainty, but it does require that you know or believe an official investigation or legal proceeding is happening or about to start. For example, if police have already contacted you or your lawyer about the recording, or if you’ve been told a warrant is being sought, that knowledge can trigger the law. The exact mental-state standard varies by state, but the core idea is the same: if you’re aware that authorities are actively looking into the crime shown in your recording, deleting it could be treated as tampering. Routine automated deletion by a service might also count if you or your attorney knew an official investigation or legal proceeding was pending or about to be instituted regarding the incident.

These laws are not the same everywhere. Some states require proof you knew an official investigation was definitely underway, while others only require that you believed one was about to start. Because of these differences, the same set of facts could lead to criminal charges in one state but not in another. The only way to know for sure is to look at the law in the state where the incident occurred and the investigation is taking place. This is why a lawyer familiar with local criminal law is often the only person who can give you a reliable answer for your situation.

If you use a service that automatically deletes recordings after a set time, that deletion could be treated as destroying evidence if you or your attorney knew an official investigation or legal proceeding was pending or about to be instituted regarding the crime shown in the recording. The law looks at who knew about the official investigation and when the deletion occurred. The timing of the deletion in relation to your awareness of the investigation is what matters, not who pressed the delete button.

These laws do not apply to every deletion of every recording. They only kick in when you know an official investigation or legal proceeding is pending or about to start. They also don’t apply to routine business practices or accidental deletions that happen without your knowledge of an official investigation. For example, if you delete a recording because you ran out of storage and had no idea police were investigating the incident, that is unlikely to trigger a criminal charge. The law also does not create a general duty to preserve recordings forever — it only prohibits destruction when you know an official investigation or case is happening or about to happen.

Imagine you record a loud argument outside your home that turns into a physical fight. A neighbor calls police, and you keep the recording on your phone. A week later, police contact you and ask if you have any footage of the incident. You tell them you deleted it a few days ago because you thought it was just a private matter. In this case, deleting the recording after learning police were investigating the incident could be treated as destroying evidence. If the state’s law says it’s illegal to destroy evidence with knowledge that an official investigation or legal proceeding is pending or about to be instituted, you could face criminal charges even though you recorded the video legally at the time. The key facts are that you knew about the official investigation when you deleted the recording, and the recording showed evidence of a crime.