Just presenting the data in open court would be an admission of guilt.
They needed a fig-leaf, a plausible legal means of "acquiring" the data the already had.
The lie "Apple [or some nameless hacker or hackers] cracked Apple's encryption" is less harmful to the FBI than admitting "We work closely with the NSA (who is forbidden by law from harvesting anything but meta-data within the US) to intercept every syllable said, every word texted and every byte loaded by any electronic means."
So what if it would damage Apple to have its crown jewels compromised, that's Apple's problem, not The Government's!
Besides, Apple is evil! They actually turn a profit!
What court case? I mean I find it plausible they had everything already. You are saying this private company didn’t really do it? Why bring a case against Apple in the first place, why just not say this company did it?
Freegards
“Because they were ILLEGALY obtaining the data... “
So, exactly what law(s) did the FBI supposedly break while investigating this terrorist incident by unlocking the data on the phone without Apple’s help as you claim?