Driver in fatal Defiance County crash enters plea and is sentenced

The driver charged in a two-vehicle crash that killed his passenger has entered a plea in Defiance County Common Pleas Court and has been sentenced and is facing deportation.

Brayan Cabanzo-Cano, 21, who had had a Hicksville address, but was recovering from injuries at Flower Hospital, Sylvania, pleaded no contest to a bill of information charging him with aggravated vehicular homicide, a third-degree felony, and was found guilty by Judge Joseph Schmenk.

He was placed on community control for five years with a 36-month prison sentence reserved with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction in case he violates terms.

However, information provided by Defiance County Prosecutor Morris Murray’s indicated that Cabanzo-Cano entered the country illegally. A press release noted that “as a result of this conviction, it is expected that the defendant will be deported to Mexico.”

“It was a tragedy, but we feel the resources involved for incarceration as opposed to having him deported was our objective,” said Murray who explained that his office was in contact with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “Through his attorney, he’s agreeing to being deported too.”

As part of the plea agreement between Cabanzo-Cano’s attorney — Robert Ratliff of Cincinnati — and Murray’s office, a grand jury indictment for charges of aggravated vehicular homicide, a second-degree felony, and OVI, a first-degree misdemeanor, was dismissed.

According to the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Defiance post, which handled the crash investigation, Cabanzo-Cano was driving a 2015 Chevrolet Cruze in the wrong direction eastbound in the westbound U.S. 24 lanes when he was struck head-on by a semi tractor trailer driven Mingat Singh, 24, Greenwood, Ind., who was not injured.

The crash killed Jose Carrillo-Cabanzo, 24, Hicksville, a passenger in the vehicle, which Cabanzo-Cano was operating while under the influence.

Murray said he isn’t sure of the relationship between Cabanzo-Cano and Carrillo-Cabanzo, but they may have been family members.

Cabanzo-Cano sustained serious injuries in the crash requiring treatment at Flower Hospital, but he was cleared to leave that facility, Murray indicated.