RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- The family of a black man who fatally shot a white teenager during a racially charged confrontation was under police protection after the victim's father blasted the man's sentence as too mild and made what defense lawyers saw as a threat.
1010 WINS AUDIO: Mona Rivera Reports
John White, 54, could have received up to 15 years in prison for his manslaughter conviction in the August 2006 killing. But a judge sentenced him Wednesday to two to four years, saying the carloads of angry white teens who accompanied victim Daniel Cicciaro Jr. to White's home shared some moral responsibility for his death. The teens had been feuding with White's 19-year-old son, Aaron.
Meanwhile, police were investigating a possible hate crime related to the racially charged shooting case. The property of a black family who live next door to the Cicciaro house was damaged after police say someone ran over the lawn.
1010 WINS AUDIO: Police Investigate Possible Hate Crime
The elder White was convicted in December after an emotional three-week trial in which defense attorneys referred to the teenagers as a "lynch mob'' and invoked the nation's violent racist past in arguing the shooting was justified.
"Nice message it sends to society that as long as you're black and there's a problem at the end of your driveway, you can grab an illegal handgun and shoot someone in the face and get away with it,'' an infuriated Daniel Cicciaro Sr. told reporters Wednesday while dozens of his 17-year-old son's supporters sobbed nearby.
``Well, let's see what happens when Aaron White gets shot and see how the laws are,'' Cicciaro said.
Defense attorney Frederick Brewington said Cicciaro's remark appeared to be a threat and demanded an investigation. Prosecutor Thomas Spota said the matter was referred to police, and the Whites were assigned extra protection at their home.
John White was led away in handcuffs, but his lawyers immediately filed an appeal. Bail was set at $200,000 late Wednesday, attorney Paul Gianelli said.
``I've always remained remorseful about this incident,'' White told the court.
At least 18 officers kept order in the packed courtroom, which was divided down the middle between the defendant's supporters, mostly black, and the predominantly white Cicciaro family and supporters. Hundreds more awaited word of the sentence in the courthouse hallway.
White testified that he was trying to protect his family on the hot summer night when the teenagers turned up at his house. He claimed his pistol fired accidentally when Cicciaro lunged for it.
Cicciaro, who had a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit for driving, was just 3 inches from the pistol when he was shot, a medical examiner testified.
White said his son had awakened him around 11 p.m. to say teens he had argued with at a party were headed to the Whites' house in Miller Place, a predominantly white community on eastern Long Island.
The younger White had complied with a request to leave the beer bash after he was suspected of posting online threats 
against a teenage girl at the party. The threats turned out to be bogus. But when Cicciaro and others heard about what happened, they headed for Miller Place, making cell phone calls to Aaron White.
John White testified that he grew up in Brooklyn hearing stories about how the Ku Klux Klan had torched his grandfather's business in Alabama in the 1920s and feared a similar attack.
Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Kahn said White's sentence was ``not intended as a measure of the value of the life of Daniel Cicciaro.''
``While Mr. White may be the only individual who bears criminal responsibility ... there are moral accessories in the death of Daniel Cicciaro,'' the judge said, referring to the young men who accompanied Cicciaro.
``They did not hold the gun, they did not pull the trigger, but they share responsibility,'' Kahn said. ``Vengeance is not a proper basis for a penal sanction.''
Inset left: Police cars outside of White's home by Mona Rivera
Inset right: Cicciaro's parents hold photo of son Daniel from Mona Rivera.
Top photo of White from Mona Rivera
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