Angela Pollina found guilty of murder in the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- There's been a guilty verdict in the heartbreaking case of a woman accused in the murder of her ex-fiance's 8-year-old son who froze to death in a garage.
After five hours of deliberation, Angela Pollina was found guilty of all counts in her murder trial: second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
She was accused of letting her fiance's son sleep in a garage in below-freezing temperatures before the boy died.
Testimony was riveting, emotional and hard to hear.
Cruel text messages and violent cursing, berating the children who were shivering in a garage, were captured on home surveillance cameras.
Pollina admitted she erased almost all of it.
"Michael told me to," she said.
Michael Valva was then an NYPD officer and her former fiancé.
But detectives were able to capture enough video and audio, so that in the end, Pollina's own words and actions convicted her, despite a vigorous defense.
"This type of case, it just impacts so many of us in so many different ways. It tugs at our hearts. We love our kids," said defense attorney Matthew Tuohy.
The jury did not believe her when she said gaunt and underweight Thomas, moments before death, appeared "alert" and "was not struggling to walk."
Watch Jennifer McLogan's report
She spoke with little emotion, saying "I'm not a doctor. He didn't appear at that time to be in any danger," and "I didn't see that he was blue."
So she returned to the kitchen to pay bills on the morning Thomas died, leaving the distressed child on the freezing 20-degree concrete garage floor with his father, who had just hosed him off naked in the backyard after he had a bathroom accident and fell on his face.
"I was shocked," Pollina said.
Pollina said in hindsight, "I wish it had dawned on me earlier" how bad it was to banish Thomas and brother Anthony to the garage because of their bed wetting issues, removing all comforts around them. Both boys are on the autism spectrum.
"I was evil," she said. "I exiled them, I didn't know what to do. My hands were tied."
It happened as Pollina's daughters lived inside the warm, cozy home. The months of sleeping in sub-zero garage temperatures, lack of food, comfort, caring, verbal abuse - prosecutors showed the jury that Pollina shared in the responsibility for the hypothermic death of 8-year-old Thomas.
"His eyes were closed," Pollina said, weeping. "I called his name out. He didn't answer me. I brought him blankets."
"The jury has spoken. The story of Thomas Valva continues and try to learn lessons from what happened, in this case and to take steps that something like this never ever happens again in Suffolk County," said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
"I'm very upset. Obviously, she's devastated," Tuohy said.
"I certainly had heightened emotions. I think you also have to be able to put those emotions to the side, right, and judge it strictly on the facts of the case, the evidence presented, and I think we did a great job doing that," one juror said.
"The evidence showed that It couldn't have been just the hosing down in the backyard alone that gave the child hypothermia. It was also the garage floor which the defendant was involved with, making the child sleep there," another juror said.
"With Thomas, it doesn't bring him back, doesn't change anything. Doesn't change what those other kids saw, what he went through. They're all going to need a lot of help," said Gino Cali, the father of one of Pollina's daughters.
Pollina faces 25 years to life in prison when she's sentenced on April 11.
Michael Valva, Thomas' own father, a then-NYPD cop, was convicted of murder in the death of his son in November and is serving 25 years to life.
