Raul Valle was granted one final continuance for time to get an attorney on Monday during an appearance in court where he faces charges tied to a series of stabbings outside a Shelton house party in 2022 that left James “Jimmy” McGrath dead and three others injured.
Valle, 20, was granted a continuance until Jan. 6, 2026, during a brief hearing in Superior Court in Milford where he told a judge he still does not have an attorney to represent him on amended charges that prosecutors filed against him after jurors found him not guilty of more serious charges during a trial over the summer.
A judge told Valle he needs to find a lawyer by his next court date or apply for a public defender. During a previous appearance, Valle told a judge the trial left his family in a financial strain, making it difficult to find a new lawyer.
Raul Valle set to appear in court next month on amended charges in fatal stabbing of CT teen
“It’s extremely frustrating,” McGrath’s father, Kevin McGrath, told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. “It’s just one of those things. We hoped that this would all be behind us in July, and it wasn’t. But again, we do have faith in the whole system and we just want it to play out. And we know the strategy is, postpone, postpone, postpone until we get on the docket again.”
“Unfortunately there’s really nothing to talk about,” Kevin McGrath said. “Hopefully we get a little bit more justice on the 6th.”
Valle faces one count each of first-degree reckless manslaughter and second-degree reckless assault and two counts of first-degree reckless assault. The amended charges were filed shortly after a jury in July found Valle not guilty of murder and first-degree manslaughter with intent in the death of McGrath, who was a student at Fairfield College Preparatory School.
Raul Valle found not guilty of murder in fatal stabbing of Fairfield Prep student
The verdict reached by the 12-person jury also found Valle not guilty of first-degree intentional assault in the stabbings of Ryan Heinz and Thomas Connery and not guilty of second-degree intentional assault in the stabbing of Faison Teele. Jurors were deadlocked on the lesser charges, which led to a judge ruling a mistrial on those offenses. Prosecutors then filed an amended information to pursue those charges.
Valle was 16 when he stabbed and killed McGrath and stabbed the three others on May 14, 2022. He was tried as an adult.
Prosecutors argued the stabbings were motivated by revenge following an altercation earlier in the night at another house party in Shelton between students at Shelton High School and St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, where Valle was a student at the time. Valle’s attorney contended that his client and a friend were jumped by an angry mob and that Valle had no choice but to stab several people in self-defense.