Jury reaches verdicts in human smuggling case after Indian family froze to death at Canada-US border

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A jury has reached verdicts for two men facing charges in a human smuggling case that led to the deaths of an Indian family who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard.

The jury’s decision is expected to be announced in court shortly.

Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, each faced four charges related to human smuggling. Prosecutors said the men were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that has been bringing increasing numbers of Indians into the U.S.

The federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, which began on Monday, saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring that prosecutors said brought Indian nationals from Canada into the U.S. The jury also heard from a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents and forensic experts.

Defense attorneys were pitted against each other, with Shand’s team arguing that he was unwittingly roped into the scheme by Patel. Patel’s attorneys said the prosecution’s case was built on unreliable witness testimony and that their client came to America for a better life before being unjustly accused of crimes he didn’t commit.

Prosecutors said Patel was the coordinator of the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the Canadian border in January 2022, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found two parents and their young children later that morning, dead from the cold.