Two Men Convicted in Human Smuggling Case Denied New Trials

A U.S. federal judge, John Tunheim, has denied requests for new trials for Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand, who were convicted on human smuggling charges in the deaths of four members of a family from India. The tragic incident occurred when the family attempted to cross the Canadian border into Minnesota during a blizzard in 2022.

The guilty verdicts were returned by a jury last November, and Judge Tunheim has upheld these verdicts, allowing the defendants to take their cases to a federal appeals court after their sentencing on May 7.

Both defendants’ attorneys argued that the evidence presented was insufficient, but Judge Tunheim disagreed, stating that there was enough evidence for the jury to find them guilty on all four counts. He acknowledged the late disclosure of a prior disciplinary action against a Border Patrol agent who testified but deemed it to have minimal impact on the case. He also defended his decision to try the defendants together rather than separately.

During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Patel, an Indian national known as “Dirty Harry,” and Shand, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated human smuggling operation that brought Indians into the U.S. The victims—Jagdish Patel, Vaishaliben Patel, and their two children, Vihangi and Dharmik—tragically froze to death just north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on January 19, 2022.

The Patels were from Dingucha, a village in Gujarat, India, where they worked as schoolteachers. Seven other members of their group survived the crossing.

It is important to note that the victims were not related to the defendant, despite sharing the same surname, Patel.

The charges against the defendants carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison. However, the exact sentencing recommendations from prosecutors are yet to be revealed, as federal sentencing guidelines involve complex formulas.