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Harshkumar Patel has asked the US court quash his convictions
A US court has been asked to overturn the conviction and sentence of Harshkumar Patel, a man found guilty in a human smuggling case linked to the freezing deaths of an Indian family of four near the Manitoba–Minnesota border in 2022.Patel was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to over 10 years in prison. He has filed an appeal arguing that legal errors affected his trial. According to court documents submitted to US Court of Appeals, he is now representing himself after raising concerns about his lawyer last year.The filing claims there were problems with how the jury was instructed and how the sentencing was applied. Patel has asked the court to vacate his convictions on all counts or overturn selected charges and send the case back for resentencing.Patel and his co-accused, Steve Shand, were convicted in November 2024 by a federal jury in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Jurors took less than 90 minutes before finding both men guilty on multiple charges linked to bringing migrants illegally into US, transporting them and profiting from the operation.The case stems from a tragic incident in January 2022, when a family from Gujarat froze to death while attempting to cross on foot from Manitoba into Minnesota during a severe blizzard. The victims were 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife Vaishali, their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi and their three-year-old son Dharmik. Their bodies were later found in a snow-covered field just about 12 metres from US border.Temperatures that night dropped to –23 C, while chilly winds made conditions feel closer to –35 to –38 C. The family had walked for hours in deep snow wearing less clothing before slowly dying to the cold.Patel was identified as the organiser of the smuggling network who hired Shand, a Florida resident, to transport migrants after they crossed into the US. Shand was arrested the same night near the Minnesota border after being found in a van stuck in snow with other Indian nationals. He was later sentenced to six and a half years in prison, followed by supervised release.Separately, Shand also moved an appeals court seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence last month. His filing argues that the traffic stop that led to his arrest was unlawful and challenges the sentencing decisions, particularly the finding that he was responsible for the deaths of the Indian family who died while crossing through snow.It also states that Shand was “unaware of and powerless to control the [human smuggling operation] leader’s decision to cross a family with young children in the unsuitable weather conditions.”A judge had previously rejected requests to acquit or order retrials in April 2025, finding that the evidence against both men was sufficient.
