A former prep school student has been cleared of murder after he was accused of stabbing a 17-year-old to death over a fight about beer in a glitzy Connecticut town.
Raul Elias Valle, now 20, was found not guilty of murder, manslaughter or assault over the 2022 killing of Fairfield Prep lacrosse player James ‘Jimmy’ McGrath.
During the trial, Valle’s attorney framed the stabbings as self-defense, saying his client was swarmed by teenagers during an ‘attack’ by other partygoers.
A jury reached a partial verdict Wednesday afternoon. The judge declared a mistrial on the lesser charges the jury could not come to a decision on.
During the trial, prosecutors said that on May 14, 2022, Valle used a pocketknife to stab four teenagers, including McGrath, following a feud between groups of boys from rival schools at an earlier party.
At the time, Valle was a 16-year-old student at St Joseph High School, where tuition costs $19,000 a year, while McGrath was a standout athlete at the nearby $25,000-a-year Fairfield College Prep.
Valle was cleared of murder intentional manslaughter against McGrath, along with three counts of assault against Ryan Heinz, Thomas Connery and Faison Teele.
Raul Elias Valle, now 20, was found not guilty of murder, manslaughter or assault Wednesday as he looked relieved when the verdict was read aloud
McGrath (pictured) was on the lacrosse team at Fairfield College Prep School in Connecticut
But jurors were deadlocked on the lesser charges of reckless manslaughter against McGrath, and reckless assault against the other three alleged victims.
The case began unfolding at Connecticut Superior Court in Milford on June 17, 2025, and the jury heard testimony from a sobbing Valle, along with several students who were at the party in 2022.
When asked if he was responsible for the stab wounds, Valle said: ‘I don’t know. I guess so. Yes.’ He added that he didn’t remember sinking the knife into the teens.
Valle attorney has framed the stabbings as self-defense, saying his client was swarmed by teenagers during an ‘attack’ by other partygoers.
Speaking in court, Valle told the court that a huge group of teens attacked him and ‘everything went black.’
‘I started waving and just stabbing in every direction, just flailing my arm around,’ he said during the tearful testimony.
Valle said his trio were confronted by ‘about 30 people spread out in a line’ which he described as a ‘wall’ of teenagers.
The school held a private vigil for McGrath (pictured). More than 1,000 people showed up
The teens went to expensive private schools in Shelton, a ritzy town west of New Haven, CT
Valle was on trial for the May 14, 2022 killing of Fairfield Prep student James ‘Jimmy’ McGrath (pictured)
Another high schooler at the party, Taylor Capela, witnessed the deadly fight, and said she heard one of the alleged victims shout ‘he has a knife, he has a knife’.
Moments later, Valle lunged at McGrath, Capela said.
Capela said McGrath was not fighting anyone and was simply observing the chaos when Valle plunged the blade into his chest.
She watched in horror as blood seeped through his white clothing. Capela also recalled seeing Teele and Connery covered in blood from their wounds.
Capela broke down in the courtroom as she recalled the horror, saying she now suffers with nightmares and anxiety.
Witnesses detailed how the fight which ended McGrath’s life was sparked by an earlier disagreement at another house party.
Valle’s friend Jack Snyder, who gave him the knife, testified under an immunity agreement shielding him from prosecution linked to the crime.
Taylor Capela, a former Shelton High School student, testified during Valle’s murder trial
Snyder admitted going to a house party around two miles away earlier in the night and stealing beer from one of the stabbing victims, Ryan Heinz.
Snyder said this triggered a minor dispute with a group from another local school, Shelton High.
The rival groups then began insulting each other on a group chat that had originally been set up to organize basketball pick-up games.
Snyder admitted that he and Valle left the first party when tensions were high, but planned to confront the other students later.
They drove to the party on Laurel Glen Drive later that night, where Valle said the car was mobbed by the boys from the rival school.
Snyder said he gave Valle a pocket-knife he had in the car, claiming that his friend ‘aggressively’ asked for it. Their friend Tyler DaSilva was also in the car.
He added that he, DaSilva and Valle intended to resolve the fight peacefully because DaSilva ‘knew some of their families’, but he said one Shelton High student punched Valle, and the situation escalated from there.
Meanwhile, Snyder remained in the car. He said that when Valle returned he was visibly disturbed. He said Valle told him ‘I think I just stabbed four people’.
The jury was shown images of injuries teenagers involved in the brawl sustained in May 2022
The knife Valle used was never recovered, but an image of the brand was shown to the jury
Jurors were shown photographs of injuries sustained by the teens on the night of the tragedy
Snyder said Valle tossed the knife into the woods as they left the scene – something the defendant denies.
Snyder also admitted writing ‘enjoy the hospital’ in the basketball pick-up group chat, but told the court he did not understand the seriousness of the situation when he sent the message.
One of the victims, Heinz, recalled the horrific moment he was stabbed. He said he did not initially realize, until a friend pointed out blood soaking through his clothes and he heard a gurgling noise coming from his collapsed lung.
Disturbing footage of the fight was shown to jurors.
Valle said it was Snyder who tossed him the knife unprompted, and that he was confused about why he handed him the weapon, but pocketed it anyway.
Synder has denied this version of events, saying that Valle asked him for the knife.
