Raul Valle Trial: Acquittal, Double Jeopardy, and Civil Cases

The Raul Valle trial ended in July 2025 with a Connecticut jury acquitting the 20-year-old of murder, intentional manslaughter, and intentional assault in the 2022 stabbing death of 17-year-old James “Jimmy” McGrath, but deadlocking on lesser reckless charges. Prosecutors are now trying to retry Valle on those unresolved counts, and a judge is weighing a defense motion to dismiss them on double jeopardy grounds.¹

What the Jury Decided

The verdict came on July 9, 2025, after three days of deliberations in Milford Superior Court. Jurors cleared Valle of the most serious charges he faced: murder, intentional manslaughter, and intentional assault. On the lesser counts — reckless manslaughter, two counts of first-degree reckless assault, and one count of second-degree reckless assault — they could not agree. The judge declared a mistrial on those.¹

The split matters because of what each set of charges required the state to prove. The intentional charges required jurors to find that Valle meant to kill or seriously injure. The reckless charges required only that he consciously disregarded a substantial risk of that harm. Acquittal on the first set does not automatically resolve the second, which is why the case is not over.

Valle had rejected two pretrial plea offers, each carrying a 40-year prison sentence. A conviction on all original counts would have exposed him to up to 60 years.²

The Stabbing at the Shelton Party

The events that led to the trial took place on the night of May 14, 2022. Valle, then 16 and a student at St. Joseph’s High School in Trumbull, went with friends Tyler DaSilva and Jack Snyder to a party on Lazy Brook Road in Shelton. A dispute over a case of beer taken from Shelton High students set off a fistfight between the two groups. After being kicked out, Valle’s group drove to a second gathering at 43 Laurel Glen Drive.²

When their Honda Pilot pulled up, roughly 30 to 40 people surrounded it, rocking the vehicle, banging on it, and throwing objects. Snyder, the driver, testified he had put a pocketknife in the center console earlier out of fear. According to his testimony, Valle demanded the knife before stepping out of the car.³

In the brawl that followed, Valle stabbed four people a total of nine times, according to prosecutors.⁴ Jimmy McGrath, a junior at Fairfield College Preparatory School, was stabbed in the chest. The wound went two and a half to three and a half inches deep and struck his heart. He was pronounced dead at Bridgeport Hospital at 12:52 a.m. on May 15, 2022. The chief medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.⁵

Three other teenagers were stabbed and survived. Ryan Heinz suffered a collapsed lung and testified he believed he was going to die. Thomas Connery was stabbed four times in the left thigh, was bedridden for three weeks, and testified the wounds left a permanent deformity. Faison Teele sustained a puncture wound through the upper arm and lost feeling in the arm for about a year.⁵

How the Two Sides Framed It

Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Marc Durso argued that Valle came to the second party armed and looking for a fight. In closing, Durso told jurors the case was about a defendant “who brought a knife… and provoked a fight and stabbed 4 kids 9 times, killing one.”⁴ Prosecutors pointed to video they said showed McGrath stepping back to avoid a deliberate stab, and noted that Valle himself had no injuries requiring a hospital visit, undercutting his account of a severe beating.⁶

Two of Valle’s former friends, Snyder and DaSilva, testified under complete immunity agreements covering the events of May 14, 2022. Snyder did not share his account with police for six months, until the immunity deal was in place. Prosecutors acknowledged that without the deal, Snyder could have faced accessory-to-murder charges carrying decades in prison.³

Defense attorney Kevin Smith argued Valle acted in self-defense against a mob. He described his client, then 16, as “down on the ground getting stomped and kicked” with the knife as “the only tool that he had available to him to survive that night.”⁶ Valle took the stand and testified he was surrounded by 15 to 20 people, was knocked to the ground and hit in the head, and swung the knife at “anybody who was coming at me” without any intent to kill.⁴ The defense also attacked the credibility of Snyder and DaSilva, arguing their immunity deals shaped their testimony.⁷

The Double Jeopardy Fight Over Retrial

After the mistrial, the state refiled the reckless manslaughter and reckless assault charges. Valle hired a new attorney, Darnell Crosland, after the first trial took a financial toll on his family, according to News 12 Connecticut.⁸

On June 1, 2026, Crosland asked Judge Kevin Russo to dismiss the remaining charges. His argument: the jury’s acquittal on the intentional charges necessarily meant it accepted self-defense, and retrying Valle on the same facts and the same defense would violate double jeopardy protections. Crosland told the court a retrial would be “Groundhog’s Day all over again.”⁹ He acknowledged that Connecticut law generally allows retrial after a hung jury, but argued the collateral estoppel doctrine should bar it here because the underlying factual question was already resolved.

Durso countered that the jury never actually reached self-defense on the reckless counts. Under the court’s instructions, jurors would consider self-defense only after finding the state had proved the elements of the intentional charges. Because they acquitted on those charges, possibly because the state failed to prove intent, they never got to the justification question at all.¹⁰ Judge Russo pressed the defense on the same point, suggesting the acquittals could simply mean the state fell short on intent rather than that the jury affirmatively found justification.¹¹

Russo said he would issue a written ruling within 90 days, though he expected to decide sooner. He also excluded a post-verdict media interview with the jury foreman from his consideration.¹⁰ As of mid-2026, no ruling has been issued.

The Civil Cases and Related Charges

The criminal case is not the only proceeding tied to the stabbing. In May 2024, the McGrath family filed wrongful death and negligence suits against Valle, several former St. Joseph’s students, their parents, and the homeowners at both party addresses. The suit against Ronald and Stacie Rich, owners of the Laurel Glen Drive home, was withdrawn in September 2025; it is unclear whether a settlement was reached. A separate suit against Paul and Susanna Leifer, who hosted the first party on Lazy Brook Road, settled for approximately $1.5 million.¹²¹³

The McGrath family’s remaining civil claims have been consolidated with suits filed by the three surviving victims, Heinz, Connery, and Teele. Attorney Michael Rosnick said after the criminal verdict that he expected the civil litigation to accelerate.¹²

The Leifers were also charged criminally with permitting minors to possess alcohol, and Susanna Leifer faced an additional count of reckless endangerment. Both were granted entry into Connecticut’s accelerated rehabilitation program in January 2024. Their cases will be dismissed if they complete community service and stay arrest-free for two years.¹⁴

Jimmy McGrath’s father, Kevin, spoke publicly after the verdict. “This isn’t over,” he said. “Everyone saw what happened. Raul Valle stabbed my son, and my son didn’t get justice that day.”¹⁵ Whether the criminal case is in fact over depends on Judge Russo’s forthcoming ruling.

1
NBC Connecticut. Here’s What Could Come Next After the Raul Valle Trial Verdict
2
Court TV. CT v. Raul Valle: Preppy Party Murder Trial
3
Connecticut News 12. Friend Who Gave Raul Valle Knife Before Deadly Stabbing Testifies Under Immunity
4
WFSB. Closing Arguments Begin in Teen Party Murder Case
5
CT Insider. Raul Valle Murder Trial Live Updates
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CT Post. James McGrath Murder Trial Closing Arguments
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CT Insider. Raul Valle Murder Trial Live Updates
8
Connecticut News 12. Raul Valle Hires New Attorney for Round 2 of Case in Jimmy McGrath’s Death
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WFSB. Judge to Decide if Raul Valle Retrial Can Proceed
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Connecticut News 12. Judge Hears Arguments on Retrial for Raul Valle in Deadly Stabbing of Jimmy McGrath
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Court TV. Raul Valle’s Attorney Warns Retrial Will Be ‘Groundhog’s Day All Over Again’
12
CT Post. James McGrath Civil Lawsuits
13
Greenwich Time. McGrath Family Lawsuit Against Rich Homeowners Withdrawn
14
CT Post. James McGrath Stabbing Shelton Party Lawsuit
15
Court TV. Jimmy McGrath’s Father Speaks Out After Verdict in Raul Valle’s Trial