there's a lot of "don't think" in your post, and tbh, you're talking about someone who premeditatively killed his wife, hid her body, researched how to get away with murder, plead not guilty, and finally accepted a plea for 2nd degree murder in exchange for giving police the location of his wife's body.

so, "if you're a CS PhD or occupy a notable position at a tech company", i would recommend some introspection on what's more important: justice or a filesystem.

personally, i'm on the side of justice. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯