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RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (CBS/AP) ― A black man who grabbed a gun instead of calling police when his son awakened him with a claim that carloads of abusive white teenagers were headed to their home was sentenced to prison Wednesday for killing one of the boys.

The relatively light sentence -- two to four years -- for John White, a 54-year-old construction laborer from Miller Place, incensed the family and supporters of Daniel Cicciaro, the 17-year-old who was killed in August 2006.

White, who could have received up to 15 years, was convicted in December after an emotional three-week trial in which defense attorneys -- referring to the teenagers as a "lynch mob" -- 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 while dozens of young women -- friends and relatives of the man's son -- sobbed loudly nearby.

"Well let's see what happens when Aaron White gets shot and see how the laws are," Cicciaro said, referring to White's teenage son.

Defense attorney Frederick Brewington said Cicciaro's remark appeared to be a threat and demanded an investigation. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said the matter was referred to police and the Whites were assigned extra protection at their home.

White was led away in handcuffs, but his attorneys immediately filed an appeal and bail was set at $200,000 late Wednesday, said attorney Paul Gianelli. He did not know how soon the White family would be able to post bail but said it would not be on Wednesday. White had previously been free on $100,000 bail.

"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 loitered in the courthouse hallway, awaiting word of the sentence.

White testified that he was trying to protect his family on a hot August night in 2006 when the white teenagers turned up at his house. He claimed the pistol fired accidentally when Cicciaro lunged for it.

Cicciaro, who had a blood-alcohol reading above the legal limit for driving, was just 3 inches from the pistol when he was shot, a medical examiner testified.

White said Aaron, 19, had awakened him around 11 p.m. to say teens he had feuded with at a party were headed to their 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 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.

White testified that he grew up in Brooklyn hearing stories about how the Ku Klux Klan torched his grandfather's business in Alabama in the 1920s; he said he feared a similar attack was about to happen.

Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Kahn said her 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," the judge said. "Vengeance is not a proper basis for a penal sanction."

White testified that he'd hidden the pistol in his garage, fearing he would someday be chased home by unknown attackers and wouldn't have time to get shotguns he kept upstairs.

Prosecutors insisted that White had about 20 minutes to consider his actions before the youths arrived. They said White and his son, who picked up a shotgun, went down the driveway -- about 65 feet from their front door -- to confront them.

The verdict followed a 12-hour deliberation marathon that ended after 9 o'clock on a Saturday night, just two days before Christmas Eve. Two jurors later said they had been leaning toward acquittal, but changed their votes after Kahn indicated they could be brought back on Sunday.

Twice over three days, the deadlocked jurors were encouraged by the judge to continue.

Assistant District Attorney James Chalifoux, in closing arguments, quoted White's remarks to police on the night of the shooting: "I did what I had to do. You might as well put the cuffs on now. This is the end of me."

White actually would spend more time in prison for owning an illegal weapon than for the killing. He got two years for possession, and one and one-third to four years for manslaughter, to be served simultaneously.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)