The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has been requested to overturn the conviction and sentence of Harshkumar Patel, who was found guilty in a human smuggling case connected to the tragic freezing deaths of an Indian family of four near the Manitoba-Minnesota border in January 2022.
Patel, convicted in November 2024, received a sentence of over ten years in prison. He has now filed an appeal, arguing that legal errors marred his trial. According to court documents submitted to the US Court of Appeals, Patel is representing himself after raising concerns about his attorney last year.
The appeal filing claims there were problems with how the jury was instructed and how the sentencing guidelines were applied. Patel has requested the court to vacate his convictions on all counts or overturn selected charges and remand the case for resentencing.
Patel and his co-defendant, Steve Shand, were convicted by a federal jury in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, in November 2024. The jury took less than 90 minutes to find both men guilty on multiple charges related to illegally bringing migrants into the United States, transporting them, and profiting from the operation.
The case stems from a devastating incident in January 2022 when a family from Gujarat, India, froze to death while attempting to cross on foot from Manitoba into Minnesota during a severe blizzard. The victims were identified as Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishali, 37; their daughter Vihangi, 11; and their son Dharmik, 3. Their bodies were discovered in a snow-covered field just about 12 meters from the US border.
That night, temperatures plummeted to minus 23 degrees Celsius, with wind chills making conditions feel closer to minus 35 to minus 38 degrees Celsius. The family had walked for hours in deep snow wearing insufficient clothing before succumbing to the cold.
Harshkumar Patel was identified as the organizer 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 filed an appeal last month seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence. His filing argues that the traffic stop leading 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.
Shand's appeal states that he 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.
