Suspect in preppy booze-fueled Connecticut party stabbing death asks court to drop charges: ‘Double jeopardy’
A lawyer for a Connecticut man recently acquitted of first-degree murder charges He makes another move to secure his client’s freedom following a booze-fueled fight between prep school students.
Last July, a jury found Raul Valle, now 19, not guilty of murder and premeditated manslaughter on May 14, 2022. Stabbing death of James “Jimmy” McGrath. Valle was 16 and McGrath was 17 at the time of the incident.
The jury in this trial was deadlocked on the lesser charge of manslaughter, which led to a partial mistrial.
Valle attended St. Louis in Trumbull, near Fairfield Prep, where McGrath was a young star lacrosse player. He went to St. Joseph High School. Both had been at a house party before the stabbing that evening. underage drinking and fighting.
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After they went elsewhere to continue the party, anger flared again and about 25 people got into another fight in the front yard of the second house, whose owners were also there at the time, witnesses told police. The stabbing death also occurred during this fight.
Valle admitted to the stabbing but said it was done in self-defense and defense of a friend.
The day after Valle was acquitted of the most serious charges on July 9, 2025, the state filed new charges of reckless homicide and reckless assault.
Raul Valle speaks during the second day of testimony in his murder trial in State Supreme Court in Milford, Connecticut, on July 1, 2025.
(Getty Images)
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Now, Valle’s attorney, Darnell Crosland, has filed a motion arguing that the reckless homicide and reckless assault charges constitute double jeopardy and are unconstitutional. Connecticut Post.
Crosland’s motion states that the only explanation for the original jury’s acquittal on the first-degree murder charge was that his client acted in self-defense.
“No other theory explains the acquittals,” he wrote in the motion.
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Defense attorney Kevin Smith presents closing arguments to the jury during the murder trial of Raul Valle in State Supreme Court in Milford, Connecticut, on July 3, 2025.
“The jury has spoken,” he continued. “The law is clear. The court must immediately dismiss these charges with prejudice.”
The Connecticut Post said in an interview after Valle’s acquittal: Jury chief said self-defense not discussed.
Prosecutors challenged Crosland’s reasoning in their own filing, according to the report.
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They described self-defense as a “defense of justification” that is not central to the elements of the charges Valle currently faces and thus cannot be used as an argument to dismiss the current charges.
Kevin McGrath, father of slain prep school lacrosse player Jimmy McGrath, speaks with reporters outside the State Supreme Court in Milford, Connecticut, following the acquittal of Raul Valle on July 9, 2025. He is accompanied by family lawyer Michael Rosnick.
“The fact that the jury acquitted the defendant of murder, manslaughter, and premeditated assault, but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on the negligence charges, indicates that the jury concluded only that the defendant did not have a specific intent to kill or cause serious physical injury,” the filing states. The statement was included.
McGrath’s family was shocked by the results of the 2025 trial.
“I was stunned by the results, but, you know, it’s a legal process,” a stoic Kevin McGrath said outside the state Supreme Court in Milford, Connecticut, later describing his son as “a wonderful person.”
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“He has every right to do so,” McGrath said. “And at the end of the day, the jury made its decision. I’m not sure if they were in the same courtroom as we all were, but that’s the verdict. And we’re going to live with it.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Crosland for comment.
Original article source: Suspect stabbed to death at booze-filled Connecticut party asks court to drop charges: ‘Double jeopardy’
