Witnesses Begin Testifying Second Day of Trial for Human Smuggling Case

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (KVRR) — Prosecutors say Harshkumar Patel and Steve Shand put financial profit over human life when they attempted to smuggle migrants from India across the U.S.-Canada border into Minnesota over five weeks.

Daryl Ritchison, a climatologist and director of the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network, testified that temperatures were abnormally cold that January morning with wind chills below negative 30. He also stated that frostbite can occur within 10 minutes in those conditions.

Text messages between Shand and Patel during their last trip in January show Shand messaging Patel saying, “Make sure everyone is dressed for the blizzard conditions, please.”

Troy Larson, a mechanic, said he had helped dig a van belonging to a man matching Shand’s description out of a ditch that morning. Larson also noted that he saw what looked to be a woman wrapped in a blanket and a child with not enough clothes for the weather.

Lisa Lopez, Shand’s attorney, asked the jury to differentiate between the two defendants. Stating:
“Mr. Shand was used by Mr. Patel. And being used does not equate under the law to being guilty of conspiracy,” Lopez said.

Thomas Leinenweber, Patel’s attorney, argued that he should never have been charged and no one would testify for his involvement in a smuggling ring.