Shelton couple sentenced for hosting underage drinking party before CT teen was fatally stabbed in 2022
A Shelton couple charged with allowing minors to possess alcohol at a house party before a teen’s fatal stabbing has reportedly been sentenced to accelerated rehabilitation, according to media reports.
Paul and Susanna Leifer were each charged with allowing minors to possess alcohol during an underage party on May 14, 2022, that preceded the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old James “Jimmy” McGrath. A fight reportedly broke out at a party at the Leifer’s home and continued at another party where McGrath, a student at Fairfield College Preparatory School, was stabbed to death, according to court records.
Three other teens were also stabbed and survived, court records show.
Raul “Lito” Valle, then a football player at St. Joseph’s High School in Trumbull, is charged with allegedly stabbing McGrath and the others, according to court records.
The Leifers, who are also facing lawsuits in connection with the party, were each sentenced to two years of accelerated rehabilitation and are each required to perform 50 hours of community service, according to media reports. They are also not allowed to hold parties or have any minors who aren’t related to them at their home and are required to complete a Mothers Against Drunk Driving panel, WTNH reported.
Kevin McGrath, Jimmy’s father, other parents from Shelton and a person who survived the stabbing at the home where Jimmy was killed have filed lawsuits against the Leifers, alleging they knowingly served alcohol to people under the legal age of 21.
McGrath and his attorneys filed a 27-page lawsuit in Bridgeport Superior Court that accuses Paul and Susanna Leifer of negligence, host liability and common law recklessness for hosting a party at their home on Lazy Brook Road where they allegedly knew teens were drinking.
The lawsuit alleges that the Leifers hosted a party “at which substantial quantities of alcohol were served to, and consumed by” people under the legal age of 21 and that they knew alcohol had been brought there and was being consumed.
The lawsuit also alleges that the Leifers “knew or should have known that alcohol causes minors, and adults, to become intoxicated, impaired and oftentimes violent and aggressive.”
Valle’s criminal case is pending and is currently on the trial list. He is charged with murder and four counts of first-degree assault. He has been released from custody on a $2 million bond, according to court records.