RIVERHEAD, N.Y. _ A black man convicted of killing an intoxicated white teenager in his New York driveway has been sentenced to two to four years in prison.

John White could have received up to 15 years in prison.

He was convicted in December of second-degree manslaughter and a weapons violation in the racially charged case in the predominantly white Long Island community of Miller Place.

Seventeen-year-old Daniel Cicciaro Jr. had shown up at White's home in August 2006 with a group of angry friends.

The conflict was fuelled by a bogus MySpace posting claiming White's 19-year-old son wanted to rape a female friend of one of the white teens.

Defence lawyers invoked America's violent racial past in arguing the shooting was justified. They plan an appeal.© 2007 The Canadian Press