Former St. John's lacrosse player gets prison for stabbing teammate

A Queens judge sentenced a former college lacrosse player from Melville to six years in prison for the 2019 stabbing of a former teammate, the Queens District Attorney’s Office said Friday.

Matthew Stockfeder, 24, was convicted in March of first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon for stabbing his former St. John’s University teammate and then-housemate with a kitchen knife during a fight.

“An argument about a late-night party escalated to blows and then bloodshed when the defendant committed a senseless act of violence,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a news release. “A jury of his peers found the defendant guilty. The Court today has sentenced him to prison for his criminal behavior.”

Queens Supreme Court Justice Stephen Knopf’s sentence was less than the 25 years Stockfeder could have received. In addition to six years of incarceration, Knopf sentenced Stockfeder to five years of post-release supervision.

Stockfeder’s attorney, Eric Franz, said his client acted in self defense and will appeal.

“It’s a true injustice that Matthew is going to prison for defending himself,” Franz said in an interview Friday. “The DA’s office has chosen to take the side of the violent aggressor and not the side of the victim defender.”

The victim, who was 23 years old at the time of the Oct. 29, 2019 fight, lived with the defendant and other lacrosse team members when he complained that their party was disrupting his sleep and he needed to work the next morning, Katz said in a news release, citing trial testimony.

The party was relocated but the two men argued over text messages and the victim went to the new location, where he punched Stockfeder in the face, knocking him to the ground, according to the news release. Stockfeder then grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the victim twice, lacerating his small intestine, which required emergency surgery, according to the news release.