The 2 males discovered responsible of human smuggling within the case of a household from India who froze to dying whereas attempting to stroll throughout the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba in 2022 are looking for acquittal, or new trials.
The 2 males, Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian nationwide arrested in Chicago, had been convicted by a Minnesota jury in November on all 4 counts every had been going through.
Attorneys for Patel and Shand made their circumstances for acquittal or a brand new trial in separate motions filed on Friday in america District Court docket of Minnesota.
In the course of the trial the prosecution had argued Shand and Patel had been a part of a global smuggling ring that introduced folks from India to Canada on pupil visas, then despatched them on foot throughout the border to the U.S.
They had been accused of finishing up smuggling journeys between Manitoba and Minnesota on a number of events in December 2021 and January 2022.
Patel was alleged to have organized the logistics and paid Shand for selecting up migrants on the U.S. facet in rented automobiles.
Shand was arrested whereas driving a van on a distant highway simply south of the border throughout a blizzard on Jan. 19, 2022, when the temperature was –23 C, however the wind chill made it really feel just like the –35 to –38 vary.
There have been two grownup migrants within the van and a number of other others had been discovered on foot close by.
Hours later, the frozen our bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39; his spouse Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, had been present in a discipline in Manitoba, metres from the U.S. border.
Jagdish Patel (left to proper), son Dharmik, spouse and mom Vaishaliben and daughter Vihangi are proven in a handout photograph.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Amritbhai Vakil
The household was not associated to Harshkumar Patel.
Patel’s and Shand’s legal professionals argue that the proof introduced to the jury was inadequate to show the boys’s guilt past an affordable doubt.
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A movement filed by Patel’s lawyer, Thomas Leinenweber, claims that no proof was introduced ahead that proved his consumer was concerned within the conspiracy or that he knew the people being transported had been crossing the border illegally.
“There was no testimony by any witness that Patel knew or acted in reckless disregard that the folks crossing the border had been aliens not lawfully in america,” the movement reads. “Likewise, there was no forensic testimony that Patel knew or acted in reckless disregard of this truth.”
“As a result of that is a vital aspect to all 4 counts that Patel was discovered responsible of, this Court docket ought to enter an order granting judgment of acquittal on all counts.”
The movement additionally claims that Patel was not “Soiled Harry” — the contact saved in Shand’s cellphone who Shand was speaking with.
Patel’s lawyer filed one other movement that requests, in absence of an acquittal, {that a} new trial be ordered.
That movement argues partially that Patel must be granted a brand new trial as a result of the courtroom had denied his earlier request to be tried individually from Shand.
In response to the movement, a joint trial was unfair as a result of Shand’s defence in courtroom rested totally on Patel being responsible.
“Shand’s counsel repeatedly argued that Shand was an harmless taxi driver merely selecting up passengers on the border of Canada and america on the behest of Patel,” the movement reads.
Due to the technique of his co-defendant, “Patel was pressured to face two events attempting to determine his guilt – the federal government and co-defendant,” it continued.
Patel’s lawyer argues that this state of affairs “was clearly irreconcilable with Patel’s proper to a good trial” and made it so the jury was unable to “compartmentalize” the proof introduced to them.
Regardless of this, Patel’s movement for a brand new trial additionally says he joins in all arguments made by Shand in Shand’s movement for a brand new trial.
Shand’s movement, filed by lawyer Aaron Morrison, additionally argues that the proof put ahead at trial was inadequate to show his guilt.
The movement additionally argues that if the federal government’s “late disclosures” of proof had been filed on time, the end result of the trial might’ve been totally different.
Patel and Shand had been anticipated to be sentenced in March.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
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