Man Pleads Guilty to Murder in June ‘24 East Village Stabbing

Alejandro Piedra, 31, pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing 38-year-old Clemson Cockfield and injuring two others in the East Village in a wild June 2024 melee, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr. recently announced. According to a contemporary Straus News report, “the south side of East 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A is a known trouble spot“ that locals had dubbed the “thieves’ market.”

“Calling it a flea market is a little kind,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told amNewYork. “Basically, people throw sheets out onto the sidewalk to sell wherever the garbage they can find or steal.”

Piedra pleaded guilty in a New York State Supreme Court to one count each of Murder in the Second Degree, Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree. He’s expected to be sentenced on April 20, 2026 to 18 years-to-life in state prison.

“Alejandro Piedra escalated to deadly violence when he brutally stabbed three individuals in a busy neighborhood in the span of minutes,” said Bragg. “As a result of this horrific conduct, Clemson Cockfield’s life was tragically taken, and Cockfield’s wife was seriously injured. I hope their family and loved ones can take comfort knowing there is accountability in this matter.”

As admitted in the defendant’s guilty plea, and according to court documents and statements made on the record in court, Piedra was previously acquainted with Cockfield. On June 23, 2024, at approximately 5:38 p.m., Piedra got into a physical altercation with Cockfield, Cockfield’s 40-year-old wife, and their 31-year-old acquaintance near the corner of East 13th Street and 1st Avenue.

During the altercation, Cockfield and the 31-year-old each approached Piedra holding a piece of wood. Piedra took out a knife and stabbed the 31-year-old in the torso and head. The group and Piedra separated and walked away in opposite directions. The 31-year-old stopped at East 13th Street and Avenue A, where he received assistance and was taken to the hospital.

At approximately 5:50 p.m., Cockfield and his wife were walking on East 14th Street between 1st Avenue and Avenue A and noticed Piedra heading towards them from the opposite direction. A second physical altercation between Cockfield and Piedra ensued, during which another individual ran up behind Piedra and hit him in the back of the head with a lamp, which broke. Piedra ran after Cockfield and they continued fighting.

When the two men briefly backed away from each other, Piedra took out a knife and walked to Cockfield’s wife, who was standing nearby. Piedra proceeded to stab her several times, wounding her stomach, leg and neck.

Cockfield ran up behind Piedra and hit him with the broken lamp. Piedra stabbed Cockfield multiple times, including in the face and neck. Following the stabbing, Piedra went back to Cockfield’s wife and repeatedly stabbed her again. Cockfield and his wife eventually collapsed on the sidewalk a few feet away. Cockfield was pronounced dead at the hospital and his wife, then in critical condition, required emergency surgery.

Piedra was arrested at the scene and police officers recovered a knife.

Department of Correction records desribe Piedra as a 6-foot-tall, 180 pound Samoan.