Videos From Home Where Boy Froze To Death Allowed At Trial: Judge

CENTER MORICHES, NY — A jury will be allowed to view surveillance videos of the home where an 8-year-old boy froze to death in his father's garage in 2020, a judge ruled on Thursday.

Attorneys for Thomas Valva's father, Michael Valva, an ex-NYPD officer, had hoped to prevent the showing of the videos, which could potentially shed explosive light on exactly what took place the night the child died of hypothermia.

After Thomas' death, Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini unsealed five-count indictments against Valva and Pollina. Valva and Pollina were arrested on Jan. 17, 2020 and charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. If convicted, they face 25 years to life in prison. Both remain incarcerated without bail.

In February 2020, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Kerriann Kelly painted a grim depiction of the day Thomas died; he was left overnight in the frigid garage with no blankets when temperatures outside plunged to 19 degrees, she said.

Thomas and his brother Anthony, 10, were undernourished, begging for food, and foraging through the garbage at school because they were so hungry, Kelly said.

An attorney for the defense hoped to suppress videos taken that have never been publicly disclosed. Kelly said one video, taken in the house a day and a half before Thomas died — showed both boys in the garage, with Thomas shaking from the cold, saying he needed to use the bathroom, and looking at the camera "with pleading eyes for someone to help him," Kelly said.

According to the decision rendered by Supreme Court Justice William Condon all videos and other evidence will be admissible in court, as the testimony of all the witnesses was found to be credible.

Condon will issue a decision on Sept. 8 on the issue of severance —whether Michael Valva and Angela Pollina’s cases will be tried together or separately; he said he would consider granting “partial severance,” which means having one trial with two separate juries, as opposed to having two separate trials.

The judge also said jury selection for the trial is expected to begin on Oct. 12.

Valva, a former NYPD officer, did not cry when describing the details that led up to the tragedy, a lead detective in the case said in court in May.

A pre-trial hearing was held for Valva and his fiance Pollina before Supreme Court Justice Condon in Riverhead; the hearing was held to determine whether an application by the defense to suppress audio, video, and other personal items found in the Valva home should be upheld; the defense said a "warrantless search" was conducted by the Suffolk County Police Department, something the prosecution denied.

Of the judge's determination, Valva's attorney John LoTurco said: "The Valva defense team was disappointed that our motion to suppress the physical evidence, including the video surveillance, was denied by the court. However, we were pleased that the court granted our application for severance in that Justice Condon has committed to two separate juries for Michael Valva and Angela Pollina. The only question that remains is whether we will have a double jury or two separate trials," he said. "Our focus now is on jury selection and trial preparation for our October trial date."

At the pre-trial proceedings, Suffolk County Police Detective Norberto Flores recounted the day he was called to the Valva home when a call came in about the son of "a member of service" Valva; the child had reportedly fallen in the driveway. Flores said he went straight to the hospital, where he heard that Thomas' temperature was recorded as 76.1 degrees F.

Valva told Flores that he turned his head and when he looked back, he saw Thomas "face-down on the driveway," and said he thought maybe his shoelace had become untied, Flores said. Valva told Flores that when he got to Thomas, he had scrapes on his face and was crying, and had "pooped his pants." He then took Thomas through the garage and into the basement bathroom to "clean him up," Valva told Flores.

Thomas, Valva told him, was "complaining about being cold and was a bit wobbly on his feet," so the shower became a warm bath, Flores said. "His condition worsened so he went to get Angela," Flores said.

When he returned, Valva said Thomas has become unconscious and was slumped over, so he took him out of the bathtub, wrapped him in blankets, and brought him into the living area, Flores said. "Then he stopped breathing," and Valva called 911 and began CPR, Flores said.

A recording of the 911 call Valva made was also released.

The call was played during court proceedings Wednesday. "I need an ambulance immediately," Valva was heard saying. "My son's not breathing."

Valva was heard telling the 911 operator that Thomas had fallen down on concrete on the way to the bus and "banged his head." He said he'd put Thomas in the shower to "help him out a little bit."

In the recording, Valva was heard counting, as if doing chest compressions during CPR and telling the operator that Thomas' stomach was "filling up a lot" with air.

At Valva and Pollina's arraignments, Newsday reported, Assistant District Attorney Laura Newcombe said a recording from the home on Jan. 17 included a child asking: "Why can't Thomas walk?" According to Newcombe, Pollina said, "because he's hypothermic," adding: "When you're washed with cold water and it's freezing you get hypothermia," Newsday reported.

The post added that, according to Newcombe, Valva said: "He keeps face planting on the concrete."

According to Newsay, Pollina then said, "You know why he's falling." Valva then said, according to Newcombe: "Because he's cold, boo-[expletive]-hoo."

When asked about cameras in his home at the pre-trial hearing, Valva told Flores that Pollina "handled that," he said; Valva did not object to police going to the home, he said. Valva, Flores said, was not advised of his rights because he was not under arrest.

Next, Flores said he spoke with Pollina: Valva told Pollina that Thomas had fallen; when she went to the basement, Flores said, she saw that Thomas was "shaking uncontrollably, his legs were kicking and his teeth were chattering.

When Flores told Pollina the importance of the surveillance cameras and asked for her permission to see them, she agreed and gave him the username but then said she couldn't remember the password, he said. Flores said he then "began to fill out the 'permission to search' form" but at that moment, Pollina became distraught about her daughters and who would pick them up from school. Flores said he told her neighbors would help. "She seemed upset, so I stopped the interview" and put away the form, he said.

Next, Flores headed to the Valva home where crime scene vans and SCPD members were present, he said; he walked through the driveway and home and noted the cameras around the house, he said.

Valva and Pollina later arrived and when he asked Pollina, she told an officer to accompany her upstairs to her bedroom where the password was in a notebook in her bedroom; she gave permission and never objected to police looking at the cameras, Flores said. He also said Pollina signed and dated the "permission to search" form.

Later on Thursday, SCPD detective Michael Ronca said a video taken with a neighbor's surveillance camera did not show a child falling on the cement outside the Valva home.

LoTurco told Patch in May the defense has asked to suppress all Nest video and audio, as well as physical items, recovered from the Valva home "based upon the warrantless search conducted by the Suffolk County Police Department. The fourth amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits 'unreasonable searches and seizures' without a search warrant and without a search warrant exception recognized by the law."

Prosecutors have said they were given permission to search.

In his decision, Condon said the search was legal and all evidence obtained should not be suppressed and should be admissible at trial. He added that police responded to the 911 call under the "emergency doctrine exception" to the warrant rule.

Thomas' mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva had pleaded for help on her Twitter page. In 2020, Zubko-Valva filed a $200 million wrongful death suit; she has been joined by scores of supporters at rallies and marches since her son's death, demanding "Justice for Thomas."

Zubko-Valva did not immediately respond to a request for comment.