(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Albert Coppedge, 49, of Coram, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree, for beating his landlord, 62-year-old Kenneth Mitchell, to death with a dumbbell, and stealing money from his wallet afterwards.
“This defendant’s guilty plea does not take away the pain of the loss that Mr. Mitchell’s friends and loved ones have endured. I hope that this resolution allows them some closure for this horrific act of violence,” said District Attorney Tierney. “I want to thank our prosecutors for securing this conviction, as well as the Suffolk County Police Department for their investigation in this case.”
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on December 6, 2020, shortly after 11 a.m., multiple eyewitnesses saw Coppedge and Mitchell, his landlord, engaged in a verbal altercation in the backyard of their home in Coram. Coppedge was later seen wielding a dumbbell and then repeatedly striking Mitchell in the head while Mitchell was pleading for Coppedge to stop. Coppedge then took Mitchell’s wallet and removed a large sum of cash before fleeing the property. Mitchell was taken to Long Island Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Several hours after the attack, Coppedge returned to the scene where he encountered law enforcement, and he was placed under arrest.
On December 20, 2023, Coppedge pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Steven A. Pilewski, to Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B felony. Coppedge is due back in court for sentencing on January 26, 2024. Coppedge is being represented by Christopher Brocato, Esq.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Dena Rizopoulos of the Homicide Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Scott Aquilino of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
