{"id":244389,"date":"2026-05-26T21:15:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244389\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T21:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T21:15:15","slug":"knifeman-who-killed-1-wounded-2-others-in-2024-east-village-stabbings-gets-18-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/244389\/","title":{"rendered":"Knifeman who killed 1, wounded 2 others in 2024 East Village stabbings gets 18 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The killing of an East Village man and brutal stabbing of two others in a gory 2024 street fight<\/a> resulted in an 18-year prison term for the knifeman at his Manhattan Supreme Court sentencing Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Justice Curtis Farber handed down the sentence to Alejandro Piedra, 32, for claiming the life of 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield, and grievously injuring the victim\u2019s wife, Jennifer Cockfield, and another man, Jonathan Lopez, during a bloody melee<\/a> on June 23, 2024.<\/p>\n

Piedra, from Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, attempted murder and assault in January.<\/p>\n

A fight that broke out between Piedra, the Cockfields and Lopez on E. 13th St. near First Ave. \u2014 close to where the couple and Lopez sold secondhand wares on the sidewalk \u2014 turned fatal after Piedra took out a knife, he admitted in his guilty plea.<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate stabbings on E. 14th St. near Avenue A in Manhattan, New York on Sunday, June 23 2024. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

After Clemson Cockfield and Lopez approached him brandishing a piece of wood, Piedra reacted by stabbing Lopez in the torso and head, according to court filings. The brawl then appeared to fizzle out, with Lopez seeking medical attention and the couple and Piedra walking away from each other, only to reignite around 20 minutes later when the couple crossed Piedra\u2019s path again on E. 14th St. by Avenue A.<\/p>\n

As Clemson Cockfield and Piedra fought again on the sidewalk, Piedra turned his sights on the man\u2019s wife, who was watching from a distance. He stabbed her in the stomach, leg and neck. The woman\u2019s husband came to her defense by hitting Piedra from behind with a broken lamp, according to court records.<\/p>\n

\"StabbingStabbing suspect Alejandro Piedra is pictured in police custody leaving the NYPD’s 9th Precinct stationhouse on June 24, 2024 (Sam Costanza for the New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Piedra then stabbed Clemson Cockfield in the head and neck before turning back to continue attacking the man\u2019s wife. Medics who responded to the scene rushed the husband and wife to the hospital, but Clemson Cockfield could not be saved. His wife underwent emergency surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlejandro Piedra escalated to deadly violence when he brutally stabbed three individuals in a busy neighborhood in the span of minutes,\u201d Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of this horrific conduct, Clemson Cockfield\u2019s life was tragically taken, and Mr. Cockfield\u2019s wife was seriously injured. I hope their family and loved ones can take comfort knowing there is accountability in this matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PolicePolice investigate stabbings on E. 14th St. near Avenue A in Manhattan, New York, on Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Gardiner Anderson for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Piedra\u2019s lawyer, Stanford Hickman, declined to comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The killing of an East Village man and brutal stabbing of two others in a gory 2024 street…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,266,267,9,24,12,63],"class_list":["post-244389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}