NEW YORK — A jury has returned a verdict in the trial of the stepmother of an 8-year-old Long Island boy who died after being forced to sleep in the family’s freezing garage. The minor’s father and former New York police officer has already been convicted.
Angela Pollina was found guilty on all counts on Friday afternoon for her role in the death of Thomas Valva. The verdict comes after a harrowing trial in which prosecutors described her as “seditious, evil and cruel” as well as a murderer. Pollina’s defense attorneys said that no matter what anyone might think of her behavior towards the boy, she did not murder him.
Valva and her older brother, Anthony, spent 16 hours in the garage of the Suffolk County home without heat on a night when the temperature outside dropped below freezing, prosecutors say. The brothers, both autistic, were in the garage as punishment for constantly urinating and defecating in the house.
The two were washed in the garden with cold water from the hose because Pollina refused to let them into the house to bathe, prosecutors say.
In the days following Thomas’s death, investigators uncovered a series of disturbing allegations – repeated and extreme punishment, starvation, being locked in a freezing garage for hours – at the hands of his father and his fiancée of SO.
Prosecutors tried to portray Polina as a “bad stepmother” who tortured children out of frustration with their incontinence issues. They urged the jury not to believe Polina when she said she tried to help Thomas, who died of hypothermia and had a core temperature of 76 degrees when he arrived at the hospital.
“He told Gia she was hypothermic, he never gave her a blanket, it’s depraved… He never asked if Thomas was okay after he fell, or if he should see a doctor, it’s depraved,” prosecutor Kerriann said. Kelly. “She knew something was seriously wrong with Thomas and she didn’t do anything about it. It’s depraved.”
During the trial, Pollina was asked if she thought she had a ‘duty to protect (the children) from harm’ when she watched them while her father worked at night, or if she treated them differently from others children. She responded the same way each time, simply saying, “I did my best.”
He was also asked if he allowed children to use the bathroom inside the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home. She said no.
Pollina’s defense team told the jury not to be swayed by witnesses who said she was a cruel and abusive stepmother. Despite the prosecution’s personality attacks, her lawyers said that no matter how they looked at her, she was not the one who killed Thomas Valva.
“I wanted to be honest and say they may hate her, but she didn’t commit murder. I don’t think it’s close, everyone reviled her,” the defense attorney said. Matthew Tuohy to jurors during closing arguments Thursday.
The defense sought to distance Pollina from Michael Valva, who is serving a 25-year-to-life sentence after being convicted in November 2022 of murder in the death of his son. The jury also found him guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
The defense at the father’s trial said it was Pollina’s idea to remove the children, while Pollina’s attorneys blamed Michael. Prosecutors in Pollina’s trial insisted the two acted together to torture the boy.
“They did not have access to a bathroom while they were in the garage. They deprived these children of the basic necessities to live together is to act in concert,” Kelly said.
There were text messages between Pollina and Michael Valva showing that Pollina refused to let the children use the toilets in the house and even tried to punish them by taking away their mattresses and blankets in the garage where they were exiled.
A 2019 text by Michael Valva to Pollina read, “My son will no longer be treated as an outcast. He will no longer sleep on a concrete floor. He will not be exiled, I will no longer accept him.”
Another SMS was sent on January 5, 2020 by Pollina. He said, “Everything comes out of there, books, clothes, etc. It’s too comfortable a punishment because you’ve made it a home. There shouldn’t be anything that belongs in a room in there.”
Two weeks later, Thomas Valva died.
Pollina’s ex, and the father of her youngest daughter, said during his trial that “my daughter and one of the twins have it figured out: just do what mom says and you’ll get the least amount of backlash.”