N.Y.P.D. officer charged with murder of Autistic son

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ASPartOfMe
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01 Nov 2022, 8:18 am

ER doctor in Valva murder trial says severe hypothermia causes 'dismal expectation for survival'

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The prosecution called Dr. David Saintsing to the stand to counteract Dr. Kenneth Zafren – a defense witness who testified on Friday.
Saintsing, who prosecutors say is an expert in hypothermia, also told jurors that it's 80% more likely that someone with severe hypothermia is going to go into cardiac arrest.

The Colorado doctor said there would be a "dismal expectation for survival."

Zafren had said in an earlier testimony that a hypothermic patient with no detectable vital signs could still be resuscitated.

Defense attorney Anthony LaPinta says Dr. Saintsing was not a qualified hypothermia expert.
"So I think it's very clear that this witness has very, very little, minimal experience in hypothermia," LaPinta says. "It was just so abundantly clear from cross-examination and hence, I don't think any of the conclusions he's reached regarding hypothermia should be given much weight at all."

Prosecutors say Thomas Valva's body temperature was around 76 degrees the day he died.


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01 Nov 2022, 9:15 am

may that poor kid be in paradise up in heaven now.



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02 Nov 2022, 8:28 am

Jurors in Michael Valva's murder trial can consider lesser charges, judge rules as defense rests
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The jury in the murder trial of ex-NYPD Officer Michael Valva will consider two lesser charges in addition to second-degree murder as it seeks to determine whether Valva should be convicted of killing his 8-year-old son Thomas by allegedly forcing him to sleep in a freezing garage, the presiding judge ruled Tuesday as the defense rested its case.

Suffolk Supreme Court Justice William Condon said the jury, which is scheduled to hear closing arguments in the trial Thursday, can consider whether to convict Valva of second-degree manslaughter, which is punishable by a maximum of 5 to 15 years in prison, or criminally negligent homicide, which is punishable by up to 4 years in prison. A conviction on the second-degree murder charge carries a sentence of 25 years to life in priso

Earlier Tuesday, two defense witnesses testified that Valva was "distraught" at the Patchogue hospital where Thomas died and was weeping and moaning after viewing the boy’s body at the morgue the next day.

Mascia, who testified under subpoena, was on the witness stand inside a Riverhead courtroom as the defense played a video from the hospital's surveillance system, showing Valva inside the hospital emergency room's "family room" from about 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thomas had been pronounced dead in the hospital’s nearby trauma room at 10:28 a.m.

Valva, who had pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and child endangerment in the Jan. 17, 2020 death of Thomas and the alleged abuse of both Thomas and his eldest son Anthony, was seen in the video seated in a chair and at different points rocked back and forth, put his forehead in one of his hands and also appeared to be using his phone several times.

Mascia, as well as a social worker and a priest, was seen offering comfort to Valva by rubbing his shoulders and arms. Then-lead Suffolk homicide detective Norberto Flores was also seen on the video speaking to Valva, Mascia testified, and a uniformed Suffolk police officer patted Valva down to determine if the then-cop was carrying a firearm. Valva complied, according to the video.

On cross-examination by lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly, Mascia noted that the video showed Valva was on his phone, texting and making at least one call, and at one point stretched his legs out in front of him while he sat down. He had no trouble walking, Mascia agreed.

“He looked pretty relaxed and comfortable there?” Kelly asked.

“Yes, he did,” Mascia replied.

“He never leaned over and took a tissue?” Kelly asked, referring to a box of tissues in the room.

“I did not see that,” Mascia said.

NYPD Transit Officer Kenneth Wengert, also a union delegate for the Police Benevolent Association, testified that Valva appeared “stoic” when he arrived at the Bittersweet Lane home on the morning of Jan. 18, 2020, to offer support.

Wengert, also testifying under subpoena, said he avoided having a conversation with Valva about the circumstances surrounding Thomas’ death because the case was under investigation. He testified that he accompanied Valva and his ex-fiancee, Angela Pollina, to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office in Hauppauge later that day to identify Thomas’ body.

“I would say he was stoic and not functioning as he normally would,” Wengert testified when defense attorney Anthony La Pinta asked him about Valva’s emotional state that day.

Valva was much more emotional later that day, according to Wengert, who said he was “weeping, wailing, moaning and crying” after viewing Thomas’ body at the morgue.

Under cross-examination from Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe, Wengert testified that while he was aware of issues between Valva and the boys’ mother Justyna Zubko-Valva, Valva never complained to him about Pollina and never said she was “domineering,” a characterization that Valva’s defense attorneys have repeatedly used to describe Pollina.

Wengert also testified that he was aware that Valva had established a GoFundMe page to raise money for Thomas’ funeral expenses. Valva had told him that he had been struggling with financial problems and didn’t have money for the funeral.

In his redirect, La Pinta asked Wengert if he was aware that Valva had taken advances from his pension in the years before Thomas’ death. Wengert said he had not previously known that.

Later Tuesday, Steven M. Troyd, a private investigator hired by the defense, narrated a series of text messages between Valva and Pollina from 2018 to 2020.

The texts presented by Troyd, who was hired by the defense to prepare a PowerPoint presentation with the messages, appeared to support the defense claim that Valva was overwhelmed financially and emotionally from a lengthy custody battle with Zubko-Valva, and was forced to stay in the relationship with Pollina, despite her treatment of the boys, because he had nowhere else to go.

In a Feb. 26, 2018, text message exchange, Pollina accused Valva of fighting for custody of this three sons because he did not want to pay child support to Zubko-Valva.

“Of course I love my kids,” Valva fired back. “I’m no deadbeat dad.”

“You want a life with me, then give them back,” Pollina replied.

In another text exchange, dated Feb. 7, 2019, Valva told Pollina he understood that she had to leave the house to blow off steam and pleaded with her to return home.

“I want that [expletive] kid out of the house,” she said, referring to Anthony.

Other text exchanges detailed the financial problems the couple experienced after they moved in together, with Pollina complaining that their mortgage was $4,200. Pollina urged Valva to move out and take his sons with him.

“Give me a chance to find a place first so they’re not living out of a car,” Valva responded in a Feb. 7, 2019 text.

Pollina told Valva, “foreclosure is your favorite.” Valva wrote back: “And dumping me is yours.”

In another text exchange, Pollina appeared angry at Valva for letting the boys in the house when she was not home. “You did this when my back was turned,” she said.

In a Dec. 21, 2019 text, Pollina appeared upset that she never saw Valva anymore because he was working nights for additional money.

“I’m trying so hard to make it all work,” Valva replied.

Condon told jurors that they could begin deliberations as early as Thursday afternoon.

Lead Valva defense attorney John LoTurco also informed the court that his client would not testify at the trial. Asked directly by Condon if he had decided not to testify, Valva replied, “yes, sir.”


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04 Nov 2022, 12:03 am

Closing arguments delivered in Thomas Valva murder trial, jury deliberations set to begin Friday

Quote:
Prosecutors opened with a photo of the 8-year-old taken the day before he died. He was at school with red cheeks and red hands giving a thumbs up.

They then showed a photo from Thomas Valva's autopsy and described him as "the same broken little boy" shown in the photo when he was alive.

KerriAnn Kelly, the lead prosecutor, said Michael Valva had complete disregard for Thomas Valva's life. She said the child was banished to the garage and there was physical abuse in the home, saying "that child was being tortured in that house of horrors."

Prosecutors say the father had no emotion as he walked past his son's backpack that was left in the cold garage where the child slept before dying of hypothermia. They say Michael Valva walked past the backpack many times before his arrest, and never even looked inside the last thing his son left behind.

The defense said that the district attorney wants to demonize the father and portray him as a cold-blooded monster, but LoTurco told the jury that second-degree murder is an overzealous charge.

He said that Michael Valva is guilty of child neglect, maltreatment, atrocious parenting at times, lying to police by not giving them a full narrative of what happened and saying horrible things to his son.

However, when it comes to murder in the second degree, LoTurco said, "We claim there are a plethora of reasonable doubts."

"We strategically told the jury that Michael was guilty of criminally negligent homicide, he failed to perceive the risk of that day and he was a negligent part of Thomas' death. We hope that the jury would be less inclined to find him guilty of the depraved indifference murder charge."


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05 Nov 2022, 4:46 am

Ex-NYPD Cop Guilty of Murder in Death of Son, 8, Forced to Sleep in Freezing Garage

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A former NYPD officer was found guilty of murder in the death of his 8-year-old son, who was forced to sleep in the family's freezing Long Island garage in January 2020.

Following a gut-wrenching five-week trial, the jury found Michael Valva guilty after seven hours of deliberation on Friday.

Valva was found guilty on five counts, including murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Sentencing was set for Dec. 8. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

After the verdict, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney called the case "heartbreaking" and one of the toughest he's experienced for all involved. Prosecutors said the verdict gives young Thomas a small amount of justice.

"This guilty verdict will not bring back 8-year-old Thomas, who suffered immense cruelty at the hands of his father, the same person who was entrusted to protect, provide and unconditionally love Thomas and his older brother Anthony," Tierney said in a statement. "No child should ever have to endure such evil acts. While there is nothing that we can do to bring Thomas back, we are satisfied with the jury’s decision. Michael Valva subjected his sons to horrific abuse, neglect and cruelty. He will now pay for cutting short the life of a young, innocent, defenseless boy who had a lifetime ahead of him."

Polina has also been charged with murder in the case and previously pleaded not guilty. Her trial date has not yet been set.


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07 Nov 2022, 12:59 pm

Jurors tell Newsday they were split on top murder charge going into deliberations
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The jury considering the fate of Michael Valva was split on whether to convict the ex-NYPD cop of the top charge of second-degree murder in the hypothermia death of his 8-year-old son, Thomas, when deliberations began Friday morning.

Jurors who spoke to Newsday over the weekend said they needed to better understand the legal concept of “depraved indifference,” a key part of the murder charge. And they wanted to build a timeline of events on the morning of Thomas' Jan. 17, 2020, death, so they asked to again hear the audio captured on the surveillance system at the home in Center Moriches.

"You're putting someone's life in your hands. You wanna be sure," said juror No. 6, Moises Lopez, a 25-year-old student who works in sales and lives in Bay Shore. "You don't want to do it in 20 minutes."

Three of the 12 jurors who unanimously voted Friday evening to convict Valva of second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in Thomas' death, and the abuse of both Thomas and his older brother Anthony, then 10, spoke to Newsday in separate interviews. The jury forewoman declined to comment, and several other jurors did not respond to messages.
Serving as jurors in the more than monthlong trial in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead as witnesses detailed Thomas and Anthony crying for food and coming to school bruised and battered was emotionally wrenching, they said. But they maintained an open mind as to whether Valva was innocent or guilty, they said.

“During the opening statements, it was really, really hard just to hear it all. … I’m like, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘Oh my God.’ I started shaking," said Thaddeus L. Brewer, a salesperson at a Honda car dealership, who was juror No. 11. "How can I be here and just hear this? And the defense came and he told a different side. I said, ‘Oh, OK, maybe that isn’t what was going on.’ It was a roller coaster.”

Brewer said he continued to work nights during the trial. But on the day that a plumber, who did repairs at the Valva home in July 2019, took the stand and tearfully described Pollina pushing one of the boys down two flights of stairs as Valva stood by and did nothing, Brewer said he was too upset to make it to work that night.

“I took a long drive after that,” said Brewer, of Bay Shore. “It kind of messed with me a little bit. One of the first things I did was call my two grandchildren — I have a 5-year-old granddaughter and a 2-year-old grandson — to hear their voices, to tell them I love them.”

When the jury of eight women and four men began deliberating just after 11 a.m. Friday, they almost immediately took an anonymous vote on the second-degree murder charge. They each wrote their vote on a piece of paper and handed it to the forewoman, who then announced the results.

"It was definitely split," said juror No. 4, Christina Anselmo, who said she favored convicting Valva on the top charge from the beginning of deliberations. "I think there was one person who initially said not guilty and five said unsure. So our goal in seeing the videos again and listening to the 911 call was to see if we could hear an ounce of compassion or care in Michael's voice that day and really get a better idea of how long it took for Michael to take action."

The jury sent its first note to State Supreme Court Justice William Condon asking for a copy of the charges at 11:25 a.m. Condon reread to the jury the definition of second-degree murder and its elements, as well as the lesser-included charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Lead Valva defense attorney John LoTurco already had conceded Valva’s guilt to the four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the abuse of Thomas and Anthony during his summation. But he had urged the jury to convict Valva of the lowest charge connected to the murder, criminally negligent homicide, which calls for a maximum prison sentence of up to 4 years behind bars.

The jurors said they didn’t consider that charge. But they worked through their lunch while eating deli sandwiches provided by the court. They only stopped deliberating for bathroom breaks. The atmosphere was cordial.

“It was a friendly debate,” Lopez said. “Nobody was fighting at all. We were like, finally we can talk about it.”

The jury also asked for crime scene photos taken by investigators, and to listen to Valva's 911 call and the nearly two-hour-long audio from the "Bella's room" video, a key piece of evidence because it captured much of what transpired in the home on the morning of Thomas' death.

As the jury deliberated, jurors discussed the countering theories of the case. In particular, prosecutors' claims that Valva took Thomas outside and, while naked, doused him with cold water from a spigot. The defense argued the spigot wasn't used, and that Valva instead had filled a Sprite bottle with water to clean Thomas after he soiled himself and then brought the boy inside and gave him a shower that turned into a warm bath.

"I made the point that I don't think there was a bath," Lopez said. "He says he's catatonic or unresponsive, so you wouldn't be able to put your kid in a shower if he's unresponsive."

Brewer, who said he initially was leaning toward the manslaughter charge, said he shifted after watching the video again and hearing the charges.


“Seeing that it took almost an hour to call 911, that was really it,” Brewer said. “Just finding no compassion at all, no remorse. Everything he did and said was depraved indifference."

Anselmo said she and her fellow jurors wanted to be thorough.

“We really took this seriously,” she said. “This is a decision that really affects the rest of his life. I think the public probably thought, ‘Oh, this is in the bag, why are they taking so long?’ But this is a serious decision.”

Lopez, who said his jury service has reinvigorated his goal of becoming a police officer, said: “I tried to put myself in Michael’s shoes. I prayed about it. I said if this man is innocent, let us see that. But there was just an overwhelming amount of evidence against him.”

Lopez said the jury ultimately concluded that Thomas “was dead for a while” before Valva called 911 at 9:41 a.m.

“We think he died in the garage before he was even brought to the basement,” Lopez said. “His lips were already blue by the time the police and EMTs got there. One thing that I pointed out, when he was in the garage yelling at Thomas, he then gets quiet and says, ‘Ang, can you come here for a minute?’ That's when we think he realized Thomas wasn't alive anymore.”

Anselmo, an assistant dean at Stony Brook University's School of Communication and Journalism, said the evidence showed that Pollina was dominant in the relationship — a key defense argument based on scores of text messages between the then-couple.

“It was obvious he was manipulated and bullied by Angela and he tried to put a stop to it — well, he said he was going to put a stop to it — but he never did,” said Anselmo, 41, of Stony Brook. “So it was really the inaction over the previous years, and then ultimately the inaction that morning that really made up my mind. It left us with no choice. We tried to see some good in him, and I think deep down inside there really was. But ultimately his inaction led to this. Any parent’s role is to take care of their children and protect them.”

“We didn’t feel like any of the defense witnesses were super credible,” Anselmo added. “It seemed like Tyrene [Rodriguez, the housekeeper] was a bit, but she didn’t remember details as well. And the hypothermia specialist was a bit odd and didn’t seem like he had prepared that well for it or reviewed notes of the case.”

Anselmo and Lopez said they and the rest of the jury were especially confounded at the hypothermia expert’s contention that it wasn’t important for doctors to receive accurate information about the events leading up to an injury — a reaction they shared with lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly, who appeared bewildered by the expert’s statements while she cross-examined him.

“Her reaction was priceless,” Anselmo said.

Jurors praised the work of all the lawyers in the case, saying they were impressed with their professionalism and especially with the evidence display from the prosecution, including Kelly and prosecutors Laura Newcombe and James Scahill.

As their discussions were winding down, the jury decided to take another anonymous vote sometime just before 6 p.m. as they ate pizza that the court had provided for dinner. This time there was consensus that Valva was guilty of the top charge. They sent a note to the judge at 6:03 p.m. announcing that they had reached a verdict.

Alternate juror No. 1, John Mulhern, did not decide the case, but the retired librarian remained in the courtroom with his fellow alternates as the verdict was rendered.

“We had all been there for five weeks ourselves and we wanted to see what the jury had to say and we wanted to see how it all played out,” said Mulhern, 71, of Kings Park. “It was all very impressive to see the justice system play out the way it did.”

Mulhern said he concurred with the jury.

LoTurco, speaking to the reporters afterward, said he understood the case was “exceptionally challenging” for the jury.

“Michael, no matter what the verdict was, would be battling his demons for the rest of his life,” said LoTurco, who was joined by fellow defense attorneys Anthony La Pinta and Sabato Caponi. “We were appointed when no other attorneys would step up to the plate. He was unrepresented and we as a defense team decided that Michael Valva needed an attorney, because in our country every person needs an attorney no matter how grievous the charges and heinous the charges are filed against them.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the prosecution was “gratified” by the jury’s decision, but said its focus now shifts to Pollina, who has pleaded not guilty and is expected to be tried for second-degree murder early next year.


The parts I hid discussed "triggering" evidence and jurors discussing how they were traumatized by that evidence.


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08 Dec 2022, 12:28 pm

Ex-cop Michael Valva, found guilty of killing son with autism, sentenced

Quote:
A former NYPD officer was sentenced to 25 years to life in the murder of his son.

A tearful Valva read a statement to the judge before being sentenced.

"How did all of us as a community allow this to happen," an equally emotional Judge William Condon asked out loud to the Riverhead courtroom.

"I don't think you intended to kill Thomas, not at all," he said to Valva, who was still crying. "But there is no getting around that Thomas and Anthony lived their lives in constant duress in the place they should have felt safest, their own home."

"An 8-year-old boy who right now should be getting excited for Christmas is dead, I speak for everybody out there, we can never let this happen again."


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08 Dec 2022, 11:00 pm

Jurors react after judge sentences Michael Valva to 25 years to life in prison
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Twelve of the 17 jurors and alternates who sat through six-plus weeks of testimony attended Thursday’s sentencing. Several of them later said they were happy that Supreme Court Justice William Condon sentenced Valva to 25 years to life in prison, the toughest sentence Condon could impose.

He’s getting exactly what he deserved,” juror Scott Krusen of Coram said. “He’s a horrible human being.”

Condon handed down the sentence to Valva, 43, of Center Moriches, in a packed Riverhead courtroom that also included East Moriches teachers and school administrators
who testified that Thomas and his brother Anthony frequently came to school hungry, bruised or in urine-soaked clothing
.

“I have twins that are 11,” said Krusen, who served on the jury as an alternate. “They are two months older than Thomas and I couldn’t imagine any father doing what he did to his kids."

Juror Thomas Molloy said the trial was difficult for the jury because they were barred from discussing the evidence,
which included video of Thomas and Anthony shivering as they slept on a concrete floor in an unheated garage in frigid weather. Another video showed Valva beating one of the boys. In text messages presented to the jury, Valva and his former fiancee, Angela Pollina — who is scheduled to go to trial in February on the same charges — mock and berate Valva’s sons


“A very emotional trial, very, very emotional. I was distraught every day, especially because you couldn’t go home and talk about anything," said Molloy, of Rocky Point. "You had to keep everything inside, sealed up for six weeks. It was a very difficult thing to do.”

Molloy said he is still haunted by video presented at trial
that shows Thomas as he was dying
.

”You have occasional nightmares about it, too," he said. "It comes up in my sleep and in my dreams, absolutely.”

Juror Christina Anselmo of Setauket said she was surprised to hear Valva make a sob-filled statement expressing remorse about Thomas’ death because the defendant appeared to show little emotion during the trial.

"I believe there is some remorse there,” Anselmo said. “I don’t think he intended on that happening, but he sure enough didn’t do anything to stop it.

“I think we all feel a sense of closure right now,” Anselmo added. “We were so emotionally invested in this for so long. It was a big part of our lives. We gave up a lot of time with our families and at our jobs. We felt like we needed to come here today and see an end to it.”


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21 Feb 2023, 7:08 pm

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Angela Pollina's murder trial in Thomas Valva's death expected to begin Wednesday with jury selection

Quote:
Angela Pollina has been portrayed in court as the evil stepmother, the force behind 8-year-old Thomas Valva’s banishment to a freezing garage, where he laid on a slab of concrete in the hours before he died from hypothermia more than three years ago.

At her upcoming trial, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday with jury selection at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, Pollina’s attorney, Matthew Tuohy, said he’s not going to run away from some of the more unflattering facts about his client.

but he said it is indisputable that the 45-year-old mother of three daughters didn’t spray Thomas with cold water outside the house during subfreezing temperatures, or place him in a bath afterward — actions that experts have previously testified likely led to Thomas’ death.


“She's been vilified and comes off as really not nice in a lot of ways, but she didn’t do the act and a jury can’t convict her of something just because they don’t like her,” said her Huntington-based attorney.

During the trial, jurors will likely hear and see much of the same evidence that was used last year to convict her ex-fiance, former NYPD Officer Michael Valva, of murder in his son Thomas’ death

But Tuohy, in his planned presentation to the jury, said he will focus on the events of Jan. 17, 2020 — the day that Thomas died — in an attempt to demonstrate that his client played no role in the child's death.

“I'm not going to try to justify things that happened or things that were texted or said,” said Tuohy. “I’m going to hone in on the act. You don't get convicted because you're not a nice person or didn’t handle things the best way.”

Tuohy said Michael Valva, who’s currently serving his sentence of 25 years to life in an upstate prison about 20 miles south of the Canadian border, is solely responsible for killing Thomas — despite the prosecution’s allegation that the then-engaged pair “acted in concert” to cause his death.

Prosecutors object vigorously to the assertion that Pollina was merely a witness. Pollina is charged with second-degree murder in Thomas’ death and with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in the alleged abuse of both Thomas and his older brother, Anthony. Pollina, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges, has been held without bail since her arrest about a week after Thomas died.

Tuohy demurred when asked about who he might call as witnesses as he seeks to rebuff the prosecution, although he said Pollina will definitely take the stand, saying she will “100%” testify in her own defense — somewhat of a rarity for murder defendants.


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24 Feb 2023, 1:37 pm

The jury has been selected. Opening arguments are scheduled for Monday.


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27 Feb 2023, 5:23 pm

Valva's Ex To Testify At Murder Trial, 'Own Up': Lawyer

Quote:
Opening statements marked the first day of the trial in Riverhead for Angela Pollina — former fiancée of Michael Valva, an ex-NYPD officer convicted of murder in the death of his 8-year-old son Thomas, who died of hypothermia after being forced to sleep in his father's frigid garage.

Assistant District Attorney James Scahill said that Pollina, who saw Thomas unable to walk and "face plant" at their home on Bittersweet Lane, told her daughter — who asked why Thomas couldn't walk — it was because Thomas was hypothermic. Pollina knew Thomas was in "grave danger" but did nothing to help, he said.

Thomas defecated and urinated on himself "because he was in the beginning stages of death," Scahill added.

In addition, Scahill said, Nest videos were deleted from the garage, the kitchen, the living room — the only videos that remained came from the dog Bella's room. Bella, he said, slept warm and with blankets while just feet away in the garage Thomas Valva and his older brother were forced to sleep on the bare, frigid floor.

Pollina acted with "depravity" toward Thomas when she knew he was hypothermic and did nothing, he said. The day Thomas died, just hours later, members of the NYPD converged upon the Bittersweet Lane house. When they left, Pollina "marched" straight to Valva and said she changed the Nest passwords and deleted the videos.

"There might have been a house at 11 Bittersweet Lane for Anthony and Thomas," Scahill said. "But it was not a home."

He added: "Thomas' death did not occur in a vacuum. It was the result of years of mistreatment, neglect and abuse."

Scahill also spoke about the teachers who will testify;
those teachers at Thomas' school, have sobbed on the stand during Valva's trial as they recounted seeing Thomas and his brother starving, cold, always cold, even in the warmer months, with bruises and scratches, and eating crumbs from the trash and floor.
Teachers brought in sweaters and jackets for them to wear, but they had to be returned at the end of each day because they were "fearful" of Pollina, Scahill said. He also reminded that the boys were wearing soiled pullups reeking of urine, although they had been toilet trained before moving into the Bittersweet Lane residence.

Suffolk County Medical Examiner Michael Kaplan is also slated to speak about Thomas suffering from "daily stress," Scahill said, which resulted in alopecia, a chronic kidney infection, a "paper-thin, stunted thymus," and about the fact that Thomas died from hypothermia.

"Angela Pollina owed a duty of care," not just as a mother of her own three girls in the home and caregiver, "but as a human being," Scahill said.

According to Matthew Tuohy, Pollina's attorney, anytime a child dies, people are impacted deeply. "It's in our DNA," he said. "It's ingrained in us, to protect our kids. Ninety-nine percent of us would die for our kids."

However, Tuohy said he does not want emotions to overtake jurors. "The emotions are hot," he said. Tuohy, who said he is a "humble" attorney focused on transparency, said he hopes the jury can remain impartial and not be swayed by emotion.

"The prosecution wants to talk about things that happened in the past, in 2017, and what I talked about is focusing on the day. They want to put a tremendous emphasis on the background, and I want to stay in the day."

Pollina is "100 percent going to take the stand," Tuohy said. "She's going to own up to what she didn't do — commit the crime. It's clear Michael Valva did it."

It was Valva who washed Thomas with water from an icy spigot in 19-degree weather, Tuohy said.


Pollina wasn't the only person there; the housekeeper was also present, he said. And Pollina brought towels to help, he said.

Tuohy said he expects the trial to conclude in three to four weeks.


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01 Mar 2023, 6:32 pm

Ex of former NYPD cop Michael Valva mocked his autistic son who froze to death: witness

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The onetime fiancée of disgraced ex-NYPD cop Michael Valva would unload “vicious outbursts” at the cop’s autistic son before the 8-year-old boy was found frozen to death in the couple’s Long Island home, a witness testified at her murder trial.

Angela Pollina, 45, who is charged in the Jan. 17, 2020, death of little Thomas Valva in the East Moriches home, was in the habit of cursing and screaming at the boy, piano teacher Tina Licari testified Tuesday, Newsday reported.

“I would hear almost like [a] zero-to-100 explosion,” Licari, who gave weekly lessons to one of Pollina’s daughters, told the jury on Tuesday. “She’d be screaming.”

Licari said Pollina and her ex-cop beau even made fun of Thomas’ autism, mocking him when he didn’t answer questions they shouted at him.

“‘That’s right because you can’t talk,'” Licari recalled Pollina screaming. She said Pollina then snickered at the defenseless boy.


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03 Mar 2023, 6:51 pm

Angela Pollina told school officials Thomas and Anthony Valva were 'used to being cold,' principal testifies
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Anthony Valva remove a sweatshirt the boy's teacher let him wear in class during a time when prosecutors allege Pollina forced both boys to sleep on the bare concrete floor in a freezing garage at their home, the school principal testified Thursday.

“They’re used to being cold,” Pollina said in the hallway of East Moriches Elementary School in the fall of 2019, according to Principal Edward Schneyer, testifying at Pollina's trial in Riverhead.

One of Anthony’s teachers, Katelyn Edwards, also testified that when Anthony saw Pollina in the school hallway that day, he fled back to class.

“He was cowering in his seat, hunched over … rocking back and forth,” said Edwards, who cried while testifying. “He was shaking, looking at the door.”

Edwards said she consoled Anthony, who liked wearing the sweatshirt to keep warm, by rubbing his back.

“He wouldn’t move and he never put the sweatshirt on again,” Edwards said.

Several other teachers of both Thomas and Anthony testified Thursday, describing the students as “always hungry,” appearing “emaciated” and cold and coming to school with injuries including a bloodied nose, bruises and cuts.

One of Thomas’ teachers, Michelle Cagliano, said she once got a call from Pollina after giving Thomas a pear and crackers when he complained of being hungry.

“She was very, very upset with me, that he was [expletive] his pants all morning and she had to clean it up,” Cagliano said.

Jennifer Holborow, a third-grade teacher who also cried while testifying about watching Anthony, who she called a “math star,” eat crumbs left over from other students. He began refusing to get off the school bus in the mornings, Holborow said, because “he had struck a deal with Angela if he refused to get off the bus and he kicked and he screamed she would take him to Chuck E. Cheese.”

Lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly also showed the jury photographs that Schneyer took of Thomas in November 2019 with what Schneyer described as a “deep laceration” above his right eye and another cut on his left cheek.

“Honestly, I think they looked worse in person,” Schneyer said when Kelly asked if they were a fair and accurate depiction of how the injuries appeared when he photographed Thomas.


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07 Mar 2023, 12:39 pm

Thomas Valva and his brother struggled to stay warm in video Angela Pollina texted their father, evidence at Pollina's trial shows
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Angela Pollina texted multiple videos of Thomas Valva and his brother Anthony struggling to stay warm in the freezing garage of their Center Moriches home to the boys' father months before Thomas died of hypothermia, video and texts displayed at Pollina's trial on Monday show.

“He is not coming into this house,” said Pollina, referring to Anthony, in a February 2019 text to the boys’ father, ex-NYPD officer Michael Valva. “He’s a stubborn [expletive] like his mother. I don’t even want him in the garage anymore.”

“I’m gonna call Miss Pollina as my first witness; I think she’ll be my only witness,” Pollina’s attorney, Matthew Tuohy, told Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei at the close of testimony Monday.

The prosecution’s final witness, Suffolk Police Sgt. Norberto Flores, on Monday narrated a series of text messages between Pollina and Valva and accompanying video clips showing the boys in the garage.

Ten days before Thomas died, according to the evidence the jury saw, Pollina texted Valva a video and cursed the boy for trying to warm himself with a towel.

“That son of a [expletive] Thomas went in the dirty laundry basket, took towels to cover himself,” Pollina wrote.

Earlier Monday, Dr. Michael Caplan, who performed Thomas’ autopsy as the then-chief medical examiner of Suffolk County, said a photo of Thomas’ “stunningly” bright red hand making a thumbs-up gesture the day before his Jan. 17, 2020 death, indicated a “reaction” to extreme cold.

“He was in a reaction period of previous hypothermia,” said Caplan, of Thomas' photo.

Caplan said Thomas was balding and also had damage to some of his organs — inflamed kidneys, which could have been caused by a lack of bathroom access, and a severely shrunken thymus organ — at the time of his death. The doctor also detailed spots on Thomas’ stomach, which are found in cases of fatal hypothermia and could also indicate “shock, starvation.”

When asked by prosecutor Laura Newcombe about the cause of some of Thomas’ chronic medical conditions, Caplan agreed that they could have been the result of the “stress” of being screamed at and sleeping in a garage.


Pollina showed no emotion as autopsy photos of Thomas were displayed on a large screen in the courtroom.
Tuohy winced and looked away at an almost full-body image of Thomas showing multiple cuts and bruises on his face and legs, and as Caplan pointed out, Thomas’ protruding hip bones.

Caplan said the injuries to Thomas’ face and head did not cause his death. The injuries, Caplan said, were consistent with multiple falls on a hard surface, such as concrete, and were sustained minutes or hours before Thomas died.

In a video apparently recorded by Pollina herself, that wasn’t presented to the jury during Valva’s trial, Pollina berated Andrew — the younger brother of Thomas and Anthony — because he was holding a sheet of paper before he had zippered his jacket.

Instead of helping the then-6-year-old, she screamed at him for not using “common sense.”

“Move it!,” Pollina shouted. “Put the paper down! Zipper your jacket!”


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08 Mar 2023, 2:56 am

Angela Pollina admits she was 'evil,' weeps on witness stand at murder trial in Thomas Valva's death
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Angela Pollina declared herself "evil" and admitted exiling 8-year-old Thomas Valva and his brother to the garage of their Center Moriches home after she tearfully took the witness stand at her murder trial Tuesday.

"Yes, I was wrong; Yes, I was evil," Pollina said as she testified in her own defense inside a packed Riverhead courtroom Tuesday afternoon. "I'm not justifying it. I'm not saying it was right. It was evil. … I put them in the garage. Yes, I did."

Pollina, who cried briefly when she described Thomas — the son of her then-fiance, Michael Valva — in pain and bleeding and later appearing unconscious on the morning he died on Jan. 17, 2020. She otherwise remained composed as she sat uncuffed on the witness stand under questioning by her defense attorney, Matthew Tuohy.

Pollina, 45, who has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in Thomas’ hypothermia death, attempted to blame Michael Valva, the ex-NYPD officer who was convicted last year of murdering his son.

Pollina said she was not involved with putting Thomas and Anthony, who were on the autistic spectrum, in the garage the night before Thomas died. She testified she was “shocked” when she saw Valva the next morning hosing down a naked Thomas outside through the kitchen window after the boy soiled his pants.

“I pretty much said, ‘what the [expletive],” said Pollina. “I was shocked at what I saw.”

Pollina, who said Valva could be “very sweet,” also accused her ex-fiance of having an explosive temper.

“That day, to me, he took a punishment to a whole other level,” said Pollina, who said she was a hospital biller for 17 years before she became disabled.

Thomas’ body temperature was 76.1 degree minutes before he was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to trial testimony.

Pollina, in her direct testimony, described herself as being angry with Valva during much of their relationship for not doing more to help Thomas and Anthony with what she described as incontinence issues.

“I exiled them,” Pollina said of Thomas and Anthony. “I didn’t know what to do. My hands were tied.”

When Valva summoned Pollina to the garage on the morning Thomas died — which prosecutors contend is when Valva realized Thomas was dead and he needed Pollina to help him concoct a story — Pollina said Thomas was "sitting on the garage floor" crying.

Pollina, who evidence has shown often berated and screamed at the children, described herself as consoling Thomas and trying to stop Valva from hurting his son.

"I said, 'come on, sit on my lap,'" said Pollina, adding: "I kind of kept consoling him. I wiped his tears."

Pollina cried as she recounted touching Thomas' scraped forehead and nose — injuries that prosecutors said Pollina and Valva used as a ruse for investigators when they claimed Thomas fell running for the bus that morning.

"I put my hand on his forehead to feel the bump and wipe his nose," Pollina said. "He's like, ow, ow, ow."

Pollina said she noticed Thomas felt cold, but she didn't think he was in any immediate danger.

Thomas stood up, she said, and although he was shivering, he walked with her and Valva inside the house.

"Michael picked up Thomas in his arms and brought him downstairs,” she said.

"I saw how he was shivering a little bit. He had no shirt on,” Pollina said.

Asked by Tuohy why she didn't call the police, Pollina said Thomas was "alert" and "using the toilet" in the basement.

"I was very angry with him," Pollina said of Valva.

When Valva said he wanted to put Thomas in the bathtub to clean him off, Pollina said she warned Valva against it.

"I said, 'do not do that,'" Pollina testified.

It was then that Pollina claimed she went upstairs to get a heater and a clean towel.

When she got back downstairs, Valva was taking Thomas out of the bathtub, she said.

“His eyes were closed,” Pollina said, weeping. “I called his name out. He didn’t answer me.”

Pollina said "at that point I panicked and said, ‘call 911.’”

Pollina took the stand around 3 p.m. after the lead Suffolk prosecutor finished questioning the prosecution’s final witness, Suffolk Police Sgt. Norberto Flores.

"At this time, the people rest," lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly told the judge at 2:51 p.m.


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09 Mar 2023, 12:47 am

Angela Pollina, at murder trial, denies she knew Thomas Valva had hypothermia the morning he died
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Quote:
Angela Pollina, testifying at her murder trial Wednesday, denied she knew 8-year-old Thomas Valva was suffering from hypothermia on the morning he died despite the prosecution’s audio recording of Pollina acknowledging that Thomas couldn’t walk and was “hypothermic.”

In a series of testy exchanges with veteran prosecutor Kerriann Kelly during a lengthy cross-examination, the Center Moriches mother of three claimed that she used the term hypothermic simply as a description for cold and denied that Thomas, the son of her ex-fiance Michael Valva, was struggling to walk. Instead, Pollina said on the witness stand that Thomas was “alert” and she didn’t perceive him to be in danger that morning.

“I’m not a doctor,” said Pollina, who took the stand for a second day and testified with little emotion. “He didn’t appear at that time to be in any danger.”

Kelly noted that Pollina had pronounced the boy to be hypothermic, or freezing, when her daughter saw Thomas and asked why he couldn’t walk at 8:41 a.m. — an hour before Valva called 911.

She asked: “Did you ever tell those first responders Thomas was hypothermic?”

“No, I did not,” said Pollina.

“And you never said, ‘it’s freezing, let’s bring those boys inside?’” Kelly asked.

“No, he was taking care of his kids,” Pollina said of Valva.

Kelly hit on several key elements of the charges Pollina is facing, getting the defendant to say she and Valva agreed for the boys to sleep in the garage on the night before Thomas died, and to acknowledge she was the mother figure in the household and had a duty to care for the boys.

“Were you or were you not in agreement with Michael Valva that Thomas and Anthony, as of the date Thomas died … were to sleep in the garage?” Kelly asked Pollina.

"I was aware, yes,” Pollina said.

“And you agreed to that?” Kelly said.

“I agreed with him,” Pollina said.

Kelly also confronted Pollina about the timeline of events she laid out in her direct testimony Tuesday, including her story that she sat on the garage floor and held Thomas and his urine-soaked towel and wiped away his tears on the morning he died.

“You told this jury that you sat on the urine-soaked garage floor holding Thomas on your lap, yet you deleted the video that would have shown that?” Kelly said.

“Yes,” said Pollina, referring to home surveillance video that was used as prosecution evidence during the trial.

“And all that video was video that could have shown what actually happened to Thomas?” Kelly continued.

“Yes,” said Pollina, who was captured on surveillance video telling Valva she had deleted another portion of the video.

“The child that you wouldn’t ever let sit on your couch … now you have him on your lap?” Kelly asked.

“Yes … he was still alert,” Pollina said.

Kelly further pressed Pollina on her contention that Thomas was still conscious just minutes before police and a paramedic and EMT arrived. Those witnesses testified that Thomas’ lips were blue and he appeared to be already dead when they encountered him in the basement.

“I didn’t see that he was blue,” said Pollina.

“The truth is, you didn’t care one bit about what happened to Thomas until it impacted you?”

“That is not true,” Pollina protested.

Kelly pointed out that everyone else in the family slept comfortably inside the warm house, while Thomas and Anthony were in the freezing garage.

“Did you and Michael ever give the garage a try?” Kelly asked sarcastically.

“No,” Pollina replied.

Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei stopped Kelly's questioning several times to instruct Pollina, including telling her to wait until Kelly finished her question before answering.

“When there’s an objection, stop talking!” Mazzei told Pollina.

Kelly also attempted to chip away at Pollina’s testimony that she was simply following the lead of Valva by keeping his sons in the garage, showing text messages from Pollina, including one in which she demanded Valva remove any comforts like books from the garage.

“It’s not that I got my way, it’s just that I didn’t want him to keep making it a house for them,” said Pollina.

Kelly pressed Pollina to admit that she was the impetus for putting the kids outside in the cold and then in the garage, which she denied despite being confronted with a text exchange in which Valva pleaded to try a new disciplinary tact.

“No, they were his methods,” said Pollina.

Pollina’s attorney Matthew Tuohy, who will continue questioning his client Thursday, said he didn’t regret putting Pollina on the witness stand.

“She wanted to take the stand and she’s doing the best she can,” said Tuohy


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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman