Background: Raul Valle testifying in Superior Court in Milford, Conn., on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 (Law&Crime/YouTube). Inset: James McGrath (GoFundMe).
It allegedly took Raul Valle about 45 seconds to kill Connecticut high schooler James McGrath — plunging a knife into his chest during a fight at an alcohol-fueled house party — before stabbing three others in an act he says was self-defense.
This week, just over three years after the slaying, Valle took the stand at his murder trial and painted the alleged scene for jurors, recounting how he was “just stabbing in every direction” and “terrified” for his life that night after being jumped, he claims.
“Everything just went black,” said Valle, who was 16 at the time, while testifying Tuesday in Superior Court in Milford. Law&Crime is livestreaming the trial.
“I started waving and just stabbing in every direction, just flailing my arm around,” Valle alleged, claiming he was “attacked by a whole bunch of people” that night in May 2022.
“I kept flailing my arm around … terrified,” Valle said. “It didn”t make him stop, even though I was flailing around a knife.”
Valle’s lawyer, Kevin Smith, claims the fighting stemmed from a brawl earlier in the evening, with one of the stabbing victims allegedly being involved in a fight with Valle and his friends. McGrath and the victims attended Fairfield College Preparatory School in Fairfield, while Valle went to St. Joseph’s High School in Trumbull, which is a rival of Fairfield Prep’s.
Asked what he was swinging at that night, Valle said: “Anybody who was coming at me.”
“It felt like the only thing that would help me,” the 20-year-old testified.
Valle, who was charged as an adult, reportedly turned himself in after the fatal stabbing and was released on a $2 million bond. He said Tuesday that he felt “hopeless” and “scared” that night before pulling the knife from his pocket.
“They just weren’t stopping,” Valle alleged, in reference to the people he claims were attacking him. “I didn’t see it [the stabbings] happen,” he said. “I didn’t feel me stab [McGrath]. I didn’t go up to him and stab him.”
Asked if anyone else had weapons, Valle admitted, “I was the only one with a knife.”
Police wound up arresting two parents who allegedly served alcohol to the youngsters at a party that preceded the deadly fight.
The Shelton couple, identified as Susanna Leifer and Paul Leifer, was convicted and sentenced in January 2024 to accelerated rehabilitation for allowing the minors to have alcohol, local ABC affiliate WTNH reported.
Marisa Sarnoff contributed to this report.
