A U.S. court will hear an appeal argument next month from a man convicted in the human smuggling operation that led to the deaths of a family of four who tried to walk across the Manitoba border into Minnesota in a blizzard.
The frozen bodies of 39-year-old Jagdish Patel, his 37-year-old wife Vaishali, their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, were found near Emerson, Man., on Jan. 19, 2022. They were found in a snow-drifted field just over 10 metres from the U.S. border.
The panel of judges is scheduled to hear the argument from Steve Shand’s lawyer in St. Paul, Minn., on Oct. 23, a court docket states.
In court filings earlier this year, Shand’s lawyer asked the United States Court of Appeals to quash his client’s conviction and sentence in federal court, and to send the case to a lower court for a retrial “and/or other appropriate proceedings.”
Shand, who is from Florida, was arrested near the border the night the Patel family died. He was handed a 6½-year prison sentence in Fergus Falls, Minn., last year.
A jury deliberated for less than 90 minutes before returning with a guilty verdict for Shand and co-accused Harshkumar Patel in 2024. Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national, is not related to the family who died.
The two men faced charges related to bringing unauthorized people into the U.S., transporting them and profiting from it.
Man convicted of human smuggling after family froze to death at Manitoba border files notice of appeal
Human smugglers get 10 years, 6½ years for roles in ‘unimaginable’ deaths of family at Manitoba-U.S. border
Patel was handed a 10-year sentence for co-ordinating the smuggling operation and hiring Shand to drive a group of migrants, after they walked across the border into the U.S. from Manitoba.
The temperature on the day the Patel family died was –23 C, with the wind chill making it feel like it was between –35 and –38 degrees.
A decision on the appeal is expected to be issued in writing at a later date.
