A man convicted of human smuggling last year has asked a United States court to continue his appeal without a lawyer, in a case where a family from India froze to death near the Manitoba-U.S. border in 2022.

Harshkumar Patel argues in a motion filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals this week from a prison in Pennsylvania that he’s been left with no choice, due to what he describes as his latest counsel’s "incompetent conduct."

Patel says the lawyer he was initially appointed filed a brief deeming the appeal without merit , and he then hired lawyer Seth Kretzer. His family and friends pooled money to pay the legal fees, he says.

Kretzer requested extensions to file his opening brief. The last extension gave him until Dec. 22, according to a court document filed last month.

Patel says af

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