U.S. court denies man’s appeal in human smuggling case where family died near Emerson

A United States court of appeal has upheld the conviction and sentence for a man found guilty of smuggling Indian nationals into Minnesota from Manitoba, which resulted in the deaths of a family in 2022.

The frozen bodies of parents Jagdish Patel, 39, and Vaishaliben Patel, 37, their three-year-old son Dharmik, and their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi, were found frozen to death in a field east of Emerson in January 2022.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 30, was one of two men convicted by jurors of four charges in November 2024 for their roles in the large-scale human smuggling ring tied to the family’s death.

Patel, who is not related to the victims, was sentenced to just over 10 years in prison in May 2025.

Patel, an Indian national in the U.S. illegally who is representing himself, filed an appeal in January with seven arguments, including claims that there was a lack of evidence to prove he caused the migrants’ deaths or injuries.

In a judgment made public Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the sentence issued by the lower court and said the jury’s verdict was supported by sufficient evidence.

The appeal court’s panel of judges found Patel’s arguments lacked merit.

Earlier, in response to his appeal, American federal attorneys said Patel took a “scattershot” approach, the evidence of his guilt at trial was overwhelming, and neither they nor the sentencing judge made an error.

Prosecutors said Patel co-ordinated smuggling trips in December 2021 and January 2022, involving groups who arrived in Canada from India on fraudulent student visas.

U.S. border patrol agents arrested Steven Shand during a traffic stop and rescued seven Indian nationals just inside Minnesota, after the group spent hours walking overnight in a blizzard and -35 wind chill. One of the survivors had severe hypothermia.

The migrants were given inadequate winter clothing when they were driven from a home in Winnipeg, dropped off on a rural road and told to walk across the border to a waiting van, jurors heard.

Manitoba RCMP officers and U.S. agents found boot prints from illegal crossings in the weeks before the family died.

Prosecutors said Shand, from Deltona, Fla., picked up migrants when they crossed the border and drove them to Chicago. The going rate to be smuggled from India to the U.S. was US$100,000, jurors heard.

He was convicted by jurors in 2024. Shand received 6½ years.

He has also filed an appeal, which is to be heard later this month.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca