December 12,2025
RED FM News Desk
A man convicted of human smuggling in a case connected to the 2022 deaths of an Indian family near the Manitoba–U.S. border is asking a U.S. appeals court to let him represent himself.
From a Pennsylvania prison, Harshkumar Patel claims he has no choice because his current lawyer acted incompetently. Patel says the attorney provided him with draft appeal documents that appeared to contain plagiarized sections from other cases, including one filed by his co-accused, Steve Shand.
Patel was convicted alongside Shand in 2024 for coordinating the illegal crossing attempt in which four members of the Patel family — unrelated to him — froze to death during a blizzard. Patel received over 10 years in prison; Shand was sentenced to six and a half years.
In his motion, Patel asks the court to allow him to file his own appeal brief, disregard anything filed by his lawyer, reprimand the lawyer, and order a refund of the fees his family paid. His appeal argues that jury instructions were flawed, evidence was insufficient, and his sentence was based on procedural errors. He maintains he wasn’t responsible for the conditions that led to the family’s deaths.
Testimony at trial indicated the victims had contacted another accused smuggler, Fenil Patel, who falsely told them help was coming. Fenil Patel was later arrested in Canada following a U.S. extradition request.
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