Raul Valle Acquitted of Murder in Death of James McGrath; Jury Deadlocks on Reckless Charges
Fairfield County jury clears 18-year-old in 2022 Shelton stabbing case, but prosecutors may retry on unresolved counts
July 9 EST: More than two years after a house party in Shelton, Connecticut turned deadly, a jury has found Raul Valle not guilty of murder in the stabbing death of 17-year-old James McGrath — but stopped short of a full decision.
After nearly three days of deliberation, jurors returned a partial verdict on Tuesday afternoon: no conviction on murder, no conviction on intentional manslaughter, and no conviction on intentional assault involving three other teens. But on the reckless charges — the ones that asked whether Valle acted carelessly, if not maliciously — they couldn’t agree.
So, the courtroom stalled.
Judge Shari A. Murphy, faced with a split jury, declared a mistrial on those counts.
Now it’s up to Connecticut prosecutors to decide if they want to take Valle back to trial.
A Party, A Fight, A Fatal Night
The case was always going to be complicated. Valle, who was 16 at the time, brought a knife to a crowded party on May 14, 2022, hosted at a suburban home in Shelton. That much wasn’t in dispute.
By the end of the night, four teens had been stabbed — including McGrath, who was struck in the chest and died. The others were hospitalized with serious injuries to the lung, leg, and arm.
The prosecution painted Valle as the aggressor. According to them, he armed himself ahead of time, pulled the blade to intimidate, and turned what might have been a fistfight into a deadly attack.
But Valle’s lawyers told a different story — one that clearly resonated with at least some jurors. They said he was surrounded, outnumbered, and scared. They argued he tried to walk away and only used the knife when the situation spiraled beyond control.
Deliberations: A Split from the Start
The jury — six men, six women — began weighing the case on Sunday, July 7. It didn’t take long before they hit a wall.
By early Monday, they told the court they were deadlocked 11–1 on the murder charge. That was already a strong signal of where things were headed. Over the next day and a half, they reviewed testimony, asked questions, and tried again.
But the divide held.
On Tuesday, Judge Murphy opted against pushing them with a “Chip Smith” charge — a legal move used to coax a verdict when a jury is stuck. Instead, she called it: mistrial on the reckless manslaughter and reckless assault counts.
What Comes Next
It’s unclear what prosecutors will do now. They could retry Valle on just the unresolved charges. Or they could decide it’s not worth it.
If they go forward, the case would center on whether Valle’s actions were reckless — not intentionally harmful, but criminally careless. That’s a tougher standard to prove, especially after a jury has already said “no” on the more serious charges.
But there’s another angle: the emotional weight of the case.
James McGrath wasn’t just a student at Fairfield Prep. He was a varsity lacrosse player, a friend, a son. His death hit hard in the tight-knit Connecticut prep school world. At trial, his family sat quietly in the courtroom, as they have throughout the years of hearings and delays.
If the state walks away now, some will feel it isn’t justice. But retrying the case means putting everyone through it again — the families, the witnesses, the jury pool.
That decision won’t be made overnight.
For Now, A Divided Finish
Valle left court Tuesday with no murder conviction, no guilty finding on assault, and no timeline for what happens next. He’s out on bail. He’s 18 now. And he may or may not face another trial.
The families involved — on both sides — are left with a case that feels only half finished.
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A political science PhD who jumped the academic ship to cover real-time governance, Olivia is the East Coast's sharpest watchdog. She dissects power plays in Trenton and D.C. without bias or apology.
