FORMER Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez was sentenced by a U.S. judge to 45 years in prison for his conviction on drug and firearm offences. The sentence means Hernandez, 55, will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars unless his expected appeal succeeds. A Manhattan jury found him guilty in March of accepting millions of dollars in bribes to protect U.S.-bound cocaine shipments belonging to traffickers he once publicly proclaimed to combat. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence, while defence lawyers said a 40-year term, the mandatory minimum under federal law, was enough. U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel said the 45-year sentence should…