A jury on Saturday convicted a black man of killing a white teenager during a racially charged encounter outside the man's home.

Jurors found John White, 54, guilty of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daniel Cicciaro despite the man's claims that he feared a "lynch mob" had come to attack his family.

The ruling came on the fourth day of deliberations following an emotional three-week trial in which defense attorneys invoked the nation's violent racist past in arguing the shooting was justified.

Jurors also found White guilty of criminal possession of a weapon.

White testified during the trial that he was trying to protect his family in 2006 when he brandished a gun after a group of angry white teenagers turned up at his house late at night to fight his son.

White claimed the gun went off accidentally, killing Cicciaro, 17.

Jurors had asked on Saturday to hear readbacks of testimony from White's wife and son.