John David Hodges Jr. did not know whether his uncle had a knife or a gun as he made his way across the street toward him, yelling angrily.

But he did know that if Paten Thomas Hodges got near him, his uncle would kill him. There had been tension between the two men for years.

"I could just tell if he got to me he was going to kill me," John Hodges testified Tuesday in Franklin County Circuit Court.

So Hodges took a .243-caliber Browning rifle from his truck and fired the shot that killed Paten Hodges, he said.

After hearing more than 10 hours of testimony Tuesday the jury found John Hodges, 40, guilty of voluntary manslaughter. He had been charged with first-degree murder. He was also convicted of possession of a firearm by a felon, but acquitted of using a firearm in the commission of a murder. He had not yet been sentenced as of late Tuesday night.

On Feb. 16, the day of Paten Hodges' death, the two men had run into each other at the One Stop Shop in the 400 block of Doe Run Road near Rocky Mount.

The men were cordial at first but their conversation soon turned into an argument, several witnesses said.

The two men had had problems with each other for years. Nine years ago, John Hodges had a child with his uncle's girlfriend, and Paten Hodges was led to believe for a short time that the child was his, John Hodges testified. And several days before the slaying, John Hodges had married his uncle's ex-wife, Janice Hodges.

After the men exchanged words, John Hodges went into the store and Paten Hodges, who was riding in a minivan with his girlfriend and her friend, left the parking lot.

The woman driving the van, Jenny Goodson, told jurors that as she drove away, Paten Hodges was desperate to get out.

"He wasn't done arguing," she said.

Goodson pulled over not far from the One Stop Shop and let him out. He started walking toward John Hodges, who had come out of the store.

Paten Hodges' girlfriend, Crystal Riddle, followed, and said he challenged his nephew to a fight.

As Paten Hodges walked closer, he reached in his pocket and yelled to his nephew that he had something for him, John Hodges said.

John Hodges, afraid that his uncle meant to kill him, went to his truck for the rifle, he said.

"I had no idea what he had," John Hodges said. "That's when I pulled the trigger."

Investigators later found a pocket knife at the scene.

Paten Hodges, 49, died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

John Hodges' defense attorney, Carolyn Furrow, argued that he fired the rifle -- which he had bought as a gift for his wife earlier that day -- in self-defense.

He knew that Paten Hodges was drunk that night and that he had cut a man with a knife years earlier. She also said Paten Hodges hated his nephew because he got his former girlfriend pregnant and married his ex-wife.

Chief Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Allen tried to persuade the jury that Paten Hodges was not a threat to John Hodges.

Paten Hodges could not have been coming toward his nephew quickly because he had a severe leg injury that kept him from running, Allen said. And, he was 75 feet away from John Hodges when he was shot, Allen said.

John Hodges could not see what type of weapon his uncle had, he testified.

Furrow argued that even at 75 feet, Paten Hodges could have fired a gun, if he had one.

"If Paten Hodges had gotten closer, we might be trying Paten Hodges today," she said.