Niemic, 24, who lists addresses in Fairhaven and New Bedford, was convicted in the death of Michael W. Correia on Oct. 20, 2010.

A first-degree murder conviction in Massachusetts requires a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole.

The stabbing occurred outside an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting near the soup kitchen at 636 Purchase St. in New Bedford.

Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, said jurors deliberated for 2½ hours before returning with the verdict about 3:40 p.m. The trial lasted eight days.

“With a case like this, my first thoughts are always with the family of the victim,” District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter said. “I met with them on several occasions and I am very pleased that today they received a measure of justice for the loss of their loved one and for their grief.”

In March, a Superior Court judge refused to dismiss a murder indictment against Niemic after his lawyer, Robert M. Griffin, argued the charges should be dismissed because jailhouse phone calls between his client and him were introduced as evidence to the grand jury. Griffin called it “egregious prosecution misconduct” and said the only remedy was to dismiss the indictment.

But Judge D. Lloyd Macdonald ruled that the evidence the grand jury heard against Niemic was overwhelming to establish probable cause and the phone calls did not influence the jurors’ decision

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