Manitoba border deaths: men convicted seek acquittal, new trial [Video]

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. –

The two men found guilty of human smuggling in the case of a family from India who froze to death while trying to walk across the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba in 2022 are seeking acquittal, or new trials.

The two men, Steve Shand of Florida and Harshkumar Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago, were convicted by a Minnesota jury in November on all four counts each were facing.

Lawyers for Patel and Shand made their cases for acquittal or a new trial in separate motions filed on Friday in the United States District Court of Minnesota.

During the trial the prosecution had argued Shand and Patel were part of an international smuggling ring that brought people from India to Canada on student visas, then sent them on foot across the border to the U.S.

They were accused of carrying out smuggling trips between Manitoba and Minnesota on several occasions …