A Superior Court judge on Thursday sentenced a 33-year-old Asbury Park man to 12 years in prison for robbing and attacking two delicatessan owners with a knife in Neptune. Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet imposed the prison term on Lionediz Hernandez for an armed robbery at the Hamilton Deli in Neptune on Aug. 24 and assaults on its proprietors, a 76-year-old man and his 50-year-old son. Chaiet ordered that Hernandez serve 85 percent of the prison term, or 10 years and two months, before he can be considered for release on parole, under the state's No Early Release Act for violent criminals. Calling the prison term appropriate, Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin said, "Hernandez attacked the two victims in this case, a father and son, in a senseless attempt to rob them of their hard-earned money." Hernandez pleaded guilty May 19 to armed robbery and aggravated assault. Hernandez, in pleading guilty, admitted he went to the delicatessan to commit a robbery because he thought there would be a substantial amount of cash there. An investigation by the Neptune Township police revealed that a man later identified as Hernandez entered the deli and attempted to strangle the 50-year-old victim with a rope, authorities said. When the victim's father came to his aid, Hernandez took a knife from inside the store and attacked both men with it, authorities said. The father was slashed in the head, and his son was slashed on one of h ...
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