Harshkumar Patel has asked the US court to quash his conviction

A US court has been asked to overturn the conviction and sentence of Harsh Kumar Patel, the man found guilty in a human trafficking case related to the freezing death of an Indian family of four near the Manitoba-Minnesota border in 2022.Patel was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. He has filed an appeal, arguing that legal errors affected his trial. He is now representing himself after raising concerns about his attorney last year, according to court documents submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals.The filing claims there were problems with how the jury was instructed and how the sentence was imposed. Patel has asked the court to vacate his conviction in all cases or overturn selected charges and send the case back for retrial.Patel and his co-defendant, Steve Shand, were convicted by a federal jury in Fergus Falls, Minnesota in November 2024. It took jurors less than 90 minutes to convict both men on multiple charges related to bringing immigrants into the US illegally, 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 trek from Manitoba to Minnesota during a severe blizzard. The victims included 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 about 12 meters from the US border.The temperature dropped to -23 C that night, while wind chill made conditions feel closer to -35 to -38 C. The family had walked for hours in deep snow wearing little clothing before slowly dying from the cold.Patel was identified as the organizer of the smuggling network that hired Shand, a Florida resident, to transport the migrants after they entered the US. Shand was arrested the same night after being found in a snow-trapped van with other Indian nationals near the Minnesota border. He was later sentenced to six and a half years in prison, followed by supervised release.Separately, Shand last month turned to an appeals court seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence. His filing argues that the traffic stop that led to his arrest was unlawful and challenges the sentencing decision, specifically the finding that he was responsible for the deaths of an Indian family who died while crossing the ice.It also said that Shand “was ignorant of it and powerless to control it.” [human smuggling operation] The leader’s decision to stay in a family with young children in unsuitable weather conditions.A judge had earlier rejected a request to order an acquittal or a retrial in April 2025, finding that the evidence against both men was sufficient.