MILFORD, Conn. (Court TV) — The attorney for a man accused of stabbing a teenager to death at a house party appeared in court on Monday, pushing for charges to be dismissed.
Raul Valle appears in court for a hearing on June 1, 2026. (Court TV)
Raul Valle, now 20, was 16 years old when he got into a fight during a house party on May 14, 2022. A confrontation involving Valle and several others escalated, leaving one teenager dead and three others injured. While a jury acquitted Valle on charges of murder and first-degree assault, the panel deadlocked on lesser charges of reckless manslaughter and reckless assault.
Valle testified in his own defense at his criminal trial, describing the fight that led to him stabbing 17-year-old James McGrath to death and injuring Ryan Heinz, Thomas Connery and Faison Teele.
On Monday, Valle’s new attorney, Darnell Crossland, first argued that the court had no jurisdiction to try the case because the jury had already ruled on the most serious charges. “Here we have the same act, the same night, the same individuals, so we cannot have a new trial based on these facts,” Crossland said.
Crossland acknowledged that the law does allow for a retrial when a jury deadlocks, “but the real question is, did the acquittals necessarily decide justification? And the answer is yes.” Crossland argued that the jury necessarily found that Valle acted in self-defense by acquitting him of murder and that should carry through for the lesser charges.
“I beg the court to apply the idea that if we were to try this case at 3:00 this afternoon, the exact same victims would be brought up, the exact same defense would be brought up, the exact same burden that the state had in the first trial would be used and it would be Groundhog’s Day all over again,” Crossland said.
Judge Kevin Russo challenged Crossland’s analysis of the jury’s opinion. “Isn’t there the possibility that when the jury deliberated, they never reached the issue of self-defense because they determined the state did not carry its burden of proving intentional conduct beyond a reasonable doubt, and that’s why they issued acquittals? Isn’t that possible?” he asked.
Crossland also urged Russo to dismiss the charges against Valle, citing the four years that have elapsed since the deadly incident. Outside the courthouse, James McGrath’s father stood beside the prosecution and said he was looking forward to the retrial. “Nobody wants a speedy trial more than the McGrath family, more than our communities. All we’ve gone through the last four years is delay,” Kevin McGrath said. “I think we all want the speedy trial…we’d like to get this behind us.”
Russo is expected to issue a written ruling in the coming weeks.
