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A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday refused a new trial request for two men convicted of human smuggling charges in the deaths of four family members who tried to cross the Canadian border into Minnesota during a 2022 snowstorm.
U.S. District Judge John Tunheim refused to dismiss the jury’s guilty verdict last November against Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel and Steve Anthony Shand.
His order cleared the way for two defendants to sentence the federal court of appeals to bring the case to the federal court of appeals on May 7.
Both lawyers believe that the evidence is insufficient.
“But this is not a close case,” Tunheim retorted.
The judge found that the jury had enough evidence to convict Shand and Patel on all four charges.
He said at the trial, prosecutors failed to disclose previous disciplinary actions against the Border Patrol, which had a disturbing impact on the entire case. He also insisted on deciding to try the defendants together rather than separately.
Attorney said at trial that the prosecutor said Patel
They say the victims – Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife Vaishaliben in her 30s; their 11-year-old daughter Vihangi; and three-year-old son Dharmik – a freeze north of the border between Manitoba and Minnesota on January 19, 2022.
The family comes from Dingucha, a village in Gujarat, western India. Local news reports said the couple were school teachers.
The other seven members of their group survived the footsteps of the transit.
Patel is an ordinary Indian surname and the victim has nothing to do with the defendant.
The maximum sentence for the most serious crime is 20 years. However, federal sentencing guidelines rely on complex formulas and prosecutors have not yet spoken about their recommendations for sentences.
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