A man facing two separate homicide trials in Allegheny County was convicted of third-degree murder yesterday in one of the cases -- a 2006 shooting outside a Strip District bar.

After several hours of deliberation, a jury convicted Sean Desmond Greene, 40, of Garfield, in the slaying of Eric Carter, 36, of Homestead, in the parking lot of Art's Tavern on July 2, 2006. They also found him guilty of possession of a firearm without a license.

Mr. Greene, a large bearded man with a clean-shaven head who wore a three-piece tailored suit, took the stand at trial and admitted he shot Mr. Carter around 1:45 a.m., just before Art's closed for the night. He said Mr. Carter -- whom he knew beforehand -- accused him of having sex with his girlfriend. He said Mr. Carter had a reputation for carrying a gun.

Specifically, he testified, Mr. Carter believed, "I would rather be judged by 12 than carried by six," a common street credo that refers to placing oneself in judgment before a jury rather than being carried by pallbearers to the grave.

During the altercation, the defendant said Mr. Carter threatened he would kill him and looked as if he was reaching for a gun.

Defense attorney James Wymard argued that his client fired in self-defense, although police found no gun on the victim and an autopsy revealed that Mr. Carter, who was significantly smaller and of shorter stature, was shot seven times in the back.

Two security guards from the bar chased Mr. Greene after the shooting, but he eluded capture for nearly two years. Police arrested him during an April 2008 traffic stop, after another foot chase that ended when he landed in a yard with pit bulls and a broken ankle. In the hospital, where he was being treated for the broken ankle, he told officials to bring him to the city police homicide unit, because he was a suspect in a murder case.

While he was awaiting trial on the 2006 case -- and being held in the State Correctional Institution Houtzdale for a conviction on yet another matter -- cold case detectives charged him in a July 2000 homicide. A witness came forward who said he kept quiet for 81/2 years out of fear.

The circumstances of the killing were strikingly similar. Police said he shot 23-year-old Timothy Jerome Raines, of Garfield, outside a Homewood after-hours club.

On Nov. 5, he is set to appear before Common Pleas Judge Randal B. Todd for the July 13, 2000, slaying at the Travelers Club.

Judge Edward J. Borkowski, two floors up, will sentence him on the 2006 homicide conviction on Jan. 20.

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