One could even say that Apple was refusing to cooperate in the return of stolen property, meaning the information contained on that phone before the terrorist stole it. :)
That is, one could say this if one wanted to be a legal technicality hair-splitting Son of a B*tch.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for protecting privacy, and do not think Apple should just allow the government to randomly access people’s phone data (they already gather everything you text, browse, email, say, etc. anyway though). But when someone is charged with a crime, and are the subject of an investigation, I think there are some legal grounds for getting a warrant to search the phone. Not sure how it’s any different than getting a warrant to search someone’s house or car...