The South End drug dealer who killed Tommy Speed in the hallway of the Lenox Street housing development two years ago was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

Jurors convicted GARRETT “G-WHIZ” JACKSON (D.O.B. 7/13/87) of first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawfully carrying a loaded firearm after about six hours of deliberations throughout yesterday and today.

“This was an immensely challenging case that might never have come to trial but for the efforts of police and prosecutors who investigated it,” Conley said. “As long as there was a chance of bringing some measure of justice to Tommy Speed’s family, they just wouldn’t quit.”

About an hour after the jury returned its verdict, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Patrick Brady imposed the mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Prior to that imposition, however, Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin – chief of the DA’s Homicide Unit and the trial prosecutor – read two victim impact statements aloud.

“The lives of two families have been destroyed,” Zabin read from a statement written by the 38-year-old victim’s family. “The pain and suffering that the defendant’s actions brought on our family simply cannot be measured in words or life sentences. The defendant’s reason for firing that gun was nothing worth dying for.”

Zabin also read from a second statement entitled, “A Poem from his Daughter to her Father.”

“Now you’re gone and I don’t know where I belong / I realize you were the key to my success / So lately I’ve learned to settle for less / Cause once you left I understood you don’t get to keep everything you need / Even though you aren’t here you will still lead.”

The verdict followed a week-long trial in which Zabin proved Jackson to be a drug dealer angry that Speed, a rival well-liked in the Lenox Street projects, was undercutting his prices. On the evening of Feb. 11, 2009, the evidence showed, Jackson stalked him to the foyer of 18 Trotter Ct., put a gun to the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. Speed was killed instantly.

Catherine Rodriguez was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Jackson was represented by attorney Barry Wilson.