U.S. judges to hear convicted human smuggler’s appeal

A panel of U.S. judges will hear an appeal Oct. 23 from one of two men imprisoned for a human smuggling operation at the Manitoba-Minnesota border, which led to the deaths of a family near Emerson.

Steve Shand, 52, has argued the case should be sent back to a lower court for a retrial “and/or other appropriate proceedings.” The appeal will be heard in St. Paul, Minn.

Shand, who is from Deltona, Fla., was sentenced to more than six years in prison after a Minnesota district court jury convicted him and co-accused Harshkumar Patel of four charges in 2024.

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 just north of the border after a blizzard in January 2022.

Seven migrants who survived the overnight crossing were detained by U.S. border agents.

Patel, who received a 10-year sentence and is not related to the victims, filed a separate appeal.