A Dorchester youth was sentenced to more than two years in jail today after a Suffolk Superior Court jury found him guilty of unlawfully carrying a loaded handgun into English High School, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

Prosecutors assigned to Conley’s Gang Unit recommended a 3- to 5-year state prison term for WALTER WEST, Jr (D.O.B. 10/26/91). Judge Frank Gaziano sentenced West to 2½ years in a house of correction to be followed by 2 years of probation.

In a day of testimony from nine separate witnesses, gang prosecutors proved that West, a student at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School, travelled to English High School in Jamaica Plain shortly before 9:00 a.m. on Nov. 20, 2008, with a loaded handgun in his backpack.

Boston Police and Boston School Police responded to the scene after an altercation erupted inside the building. They took West into custody after a struggle and also seized and searched his backpack. The only item in the bag was a loaded Sturm, Ruger & Co. P95DC handgun.

The incident was captured on several of the school’s surveillance cameras. Tapes from those cameras were introduced as evidence, as was testimony from school personnel, responding officers, and Boston Police criminalists.

As a first gun offense, West’s case could have been tried in district court. Conley’s office indicted it to Superior Court because of the disturbing nature of the facts and evidence.

“We see the aftermath of gun violence too often in Boston,” Conley said. “This could have been the prelude. It doesn’t take much imagination to consider what could have happened to another student if this armed gunman had found a target before being intercepted.”

West was represented by attorney Anthony Annino III.