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WILKES-BARRE — After pleading guilty in May to a charge stemming from a fatal hit-and-run in Hanover Township last year, Emiliano Hernandez learned he could spend as much as 10 years in prison on Tuesday.

Hernandez, 47, appeared for sentencing before Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Vough on Tuesday. Hernandez, a Hanover Township resident, was accused of striking fellow township resident Peter Mangino, 56, outside of PT’s Late Night Bar on Oxford and Luzerne Streets on April 21, 2018.

Hernandez drove away, leaving Mangino there. He remained on life support for several days until he passed away on May 2, 2018.

Hernandez entered a guilty plea in May to a felony count of accidents involving death or personal injury. Other charges, including a charge of driving without a license, were dropped by prosecutors. Hernandez told investigators after he had been arrested that he had panicked, saying that he didn’t expect Mangino to walk out in front of him.

During a brief sentencing hearing Tuesday, during which Hernandez apologized to the family of Mangino, Vough expressed sadness about the case itself.

“There are no winners in a case like this,” he said, saying there was nothing he could do to bring Mangino back, but he could impose what he thinks is a fair sentence.

As such, Vough ordered that Hernandez spend between 42 and 120 months, or 3½ to 10 years, in state prison. Vough gave Hernandez credit for more than 400 days time served, meaning slightly more than the first year of Hernandez’s sentence has already been served.

Vough told Hernandez that his status as a citizen could be affected by the charge to which he pleaded guilty.

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By Patrick Kernan

[email protected]

Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan