… that dude probably would have preferred not having that in their life

That's not going to stop authoritarians from harassing. Want an example of how this played out?

United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) was the SCOTUS case that declared if you were born in the US you were a citizen. You think Mr. Ark was okay from harassment after this case was ruled in his favor? Less than 3 years later he would be held in Texas while local authorities tried to deport him under the Chinese Exclusion Act ignoring his previous ruling (that was national news, and they'd be fully aware of).

Then after winning his freedom, that he was already granted, he was arrested again in SF where they tried to deport him as well. Then after getting released, for something that he has already proven twice now, he went back to China and never returned to the US.

Institutions do not stop authoritarians.

Assuming he is found (edit: not) guilty, which is not guaranteed at all

Except that's not going to happen because evidence spoliation (legal term) is a crime. And that's what he did. You can say it shouldn't be but it is. This is slam dunk and it happens all the time. It's the same crime as destroying evidence that's been subpoenaed or that it has a preservation hold on it.

And the court gets to assume that whatever was on that phone hurts your case, regardless of whether or not it did.

It would've been better if he'd crossed the border with a phone already factory reset and just restore it after entry.

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