Harshkumar Patel Wants To Represent Himself In Human Smuggling Case

Photo: Sherburne County Sheriff

India-West News Desk

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Harshkumar Patel, convicted in the 2024 human-smuggling case tied to the deaths of an Indian family that froze at the Manitoba–U.S. border, is asking a federal appeals court to let him move forward without a lawyer. In a motion filed from a Pennsylvania prison, he says he wants to represent himself because of what he calls incompetent conduct by his current counsel.

Patel argues that his first court-appointed lawyer dismissed the appeal as meritless, prompting his family and friends to hire attorney Seth Kretzer. Patel now says that after repeatedly asking to review drafts, Kretzer sent versions that appeared to mirror arguments used in other cases, including the federal public defender’s brief for co-accused Steve Shand.

The Patel family from India died of exposure on January 19, 2022, during a blizzard as they attempted to enter Minnesota on foot. The bodies of Jagdish and Vaishali Patel and their two young children were found just some feet from the border.

In his motion, Harshkumar Patel has asked the court to accept his own appeal brief, disregard any future filings by counsel, reprimand Kretzer, and order a refund of the fees his relatives paid. Kretzer responded in an email that Patel’s brief is not yet due and that early drafts often differ significantly from final filings. He said he has never plagiarized, citing his experience arguing two cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Kretzer added he will file by the deadline unless the court rules otherwise, though he noted that formal reprimands are not handled through an appeals court.

Patel and Shand were convicted by a jury in November 2024 of bringing unauthorized migrants into the country and related offenses. Patel, an Indian national arrested in Chicago, received a sentence of more than ten years for organizing the operation. Shand, a Florida resident arrested with other Indian nationals in his van, was sentenced to six and a half years.