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Chapman Highway crash defendant facing deportation following Friday hearing

Francisco Eduardo Franco Cambrany is awaiting prosecution in Knox County in the December death of motorist Pierce Corcoran.

Francisco Eduardo Franco Cambrany, the man charged in the Chapman Highway crash that killed Pierce Corcoran, is facing deportation following a federal hearing Friday. 

Executive Office for Immigration Review records show that on Friday, March 15, an immigration judge denied the respondent’s request for voluntary departure, and Cambrany was ordered removed from the United States.

He's been living in the U.S., including in the Oak Ridge area, about 14 years illegally.

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Within 30 days of the immigration judge’s decision, he may appeal the immigration judge’s decision to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). 

If Cambrany does not file a timely appeal with the BIA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) may remove him from the U.S.

Cambrany is being held at an federal immigration center in Jena, Louisiana. He’s been there a few weeks. Before that he was at a federal holding center in Alabama.

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In Knox County, Cambrany is facing prosecution in the December death of Pierce Corcoran in a head-on traffic crash on Chapman Highway. Corcoran was the son of Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Capt. D.J. Corcoran.

Monday, the Corcorans said they were happy Cambrany was being deported, but wished he had faced charges in Knox County. 

"We’re thankful because we do know where he’s at, we have been involved in the process. We know that he’s not here driving on our streets and could possibly do this to someone else," Wendy Corcoran said. "It’s hard because we can’t bring our son back. That would be justice for us but we know that’s not possible."

The Corcorans have filed an $8 million civil suit against Cambrany and the man whose pickup truck he was driving that night.

They say they want someone to be held responsible for their son's death.

Knox County District Public Defender Mark Stephens represents Cambrany in the Knox County case, which is still before a grand jury. 

It’s been there for about six weeks. A judge bound it over to the grand jury in late January.

Stephens said he hoped to be able to talk with his client Monday, March 18.

He said Cambrany was not given a bond on his federal immigration charge. That signals to him that he’s likely facing a quicker deportation process than if they’d given him a bond on the federal charge.

Stephens said he hadn’t spoken with Cambrany since he was moved out of Knoxville. He does talk with the man’s family.

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