Jury deliberations resume in murder trial of Angela Pollina, charged in Thomas Valva's death

The jury considering the fate of Angela Pollina, the Center Moriches woman on trial for the murder of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, listened to a readback of the testimony from Suffolk County’s former chief medical examiner Friday morning and then left the courtroom to continue deliberations.

The jury requested Dr. Michael Caplan’s testimony regarding hypothermia on Thursday after it got the case shortly before 4 p.m. Caplan ruled that Thomas died of hypothermia on Jan. 17, 2020 after prosecutors said Pollina and her then-fiance, Michael Valva, forced his sons, Thomas and his older brother, Anthony, to sleep in an unheated garage.

After listening to the testimony, the jury of eight men and four women left the courtroom at about 10:55 a.m. to continue deliberations. 

Thursday afternoon prosecutor Kerriann Kelly told jurors Pollina punished the victim and his brother "for the sin of their autism."

Kelly also told the jurors sitting in the courtroom in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead that it was Pollina who sent Thomas and Anthony to spend the night in a cold garage and then failed to help Thomas as he froze to death.

"She said they were dirty, stinky, filthy little boys so she locked them up like caged animals," said Kelly in her 90-minute closing argument, pointing out the two boys also struggled to cope with Pollina's constant screaming and berating.

But defense attorney Matthew Tuohy argued in his closing that Pollina, 45, was unfairly villainized. 

Tuohy conceded to jurors that mother of three girls was “mean” to Thomas. But he blamed the boy’s father, Michael Valva, who is Pollina's ex-fiance, for Thomas' death, saying he forced him to sleep in a freezing garage. He implored the jury to find Pollina not guilty of Thomas’ murder.

Pollina's mindset on the day of Thomas’ death did not meet the standard for a second-degree murder conviction, Tuohy said.

“We want to somehow make it right,” Tuohy said of the child’s killing. “But finding her guilty of a murder she didn’t commit isn’t gonna make it right.”

But Pollina's "relentless" texts messages to Valva, complaining about the boys, "are the reason the boys were in the garage," Kelly countered.

The text messages, in which Pollina compared Anthony to a dog she had to put down and repeatedly told Valva she didn't want the boys in her home, are "overwhelming evidence of her state of mind," Kelly said.

Pollina took the stand in her own defense Tuesday, admitting she was "evil" when she forced the boys to sleep in the garage. 

On Thursday, Kelly dismissed much of her testimony, saying it was full of "mistruths, misinformation to cover up for herself."

"She acknowledged that it was evil, and it certainly was," said Kelly.

"What she said doesn't match up to the video or audio …," said Kelly. "Everything said was contrary to evidence." 

In all of the audio that the jury heard from that morning, Kelly pointed out, "she never once asked if Thomas is OK," arguing that showed a depraved indifference to Thomas' life. 

Kelly also pointed to Pollina's testimony that she didn't perceive Thomas to be in danger until he was unconscious. 

"If he wasn't in any danger … why was she crying when she went into room to get the heater?" asked Kelly. 

The prosecutor also attacked the notion that Pollina, who complained about what she perceived as the boys' lack of cleanliness, would have held Thomas after he soiled himself and urinated on the garage floor. 

"Do you really believe she went into the garage and held that child on her lap?" Kelly asked incredulously. "That's absurd."

"This course of conduct shows that she stayed in the play," Kelly said, again borrowing Tuohy's phrase. "And Jan. 17, 2020, was no different." 

Kelly attacked Tuohy's theory of the case — that what happened on the day Thomas died is the only conduct that it should consider — and said the defendant wants the jury to believe that Pollina "flipped a switch" … "and on Jan. 17 she's not responsible." 

"This defendant beat down an adult man, a police officer … it's no wonder 8-year-old Thomas succumbed to her, too," said Kelly. 

The relationship between Pollina and Valva was "twisted" and "all a cover-up for their sadistic approach to Thomas and Anthony," she said.

"Even Michael Valva acquiesced to her mindset," said Kelly. "They did it together. They have equal responsibility for what happened to these boys." 

"They denied these children the basic necessities of life together — that's acting in concert," Kelly said. 

In a criticism of Tuohy's propensity to refer to Thomas as "the boy" and to his death as "the tragedy," Kelly said: "The boy has a name. His name is Thomas Valva and the tragedy was his murder at the age of 8 at the hands of this defendant, Angela Pollina, and their father, Michael Valva," said Kelly, pointing to Pollina. 

"So yes, she stayed in the play," Kelly said, stealing a line that Tuohy used repeatedly in his opening and closing. "Because they were acting in concert with each other.

"When Michael Valva did it, it's because they acted as one."

Pollina is also charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child for the alleged abuse of Thomas and his older brother, Anthony, who was 10 years old when Thomas died. She is facing 25 years to life in prison for the top charge of second-degree murder if convicted of that charge.

Valva, 43, an ex-NYPD officer, and Pollina forced Thomas and Anthony to sleep in the freezing garage in 19-degree weather because they had bathroom accidents, prosecutors said. Thomas died on Jan. 17, 2020, of hypothermia.

Valva was convicted last year of second-degree murder in Thomas' death and was sentenced to 25 years to life in an upstate prison.

Tuohy insisted his client is not guilty of murder.

“You have to stay away from the mob mentality; she’s a [expletive], she’s evil,” said Tuohy, of Huntington, banging his fist on the lectern as he spoke to jurors. “She’s innocent of depraved indifference murder in the second degree.”

During his 80-minute summation, Tuohy, who told the jury he’s a father of two sons and got emotional as he reflected on the death of Thomas, summarized each of the prosecution’s 21 witnesses, emphasizing why he thought they weren’t important to determining Pollina’s guilt or innocence.

“I said I wasn’t gonna come and put on a show … wasn’t gonna beat up on witnesses,” Tuohy said, referencing the fact that he didn’t question many of the prosecution’s witnesses, and when he did, asked few questions.

Pointing to the piano teacher who testified that she frequently heard Pollina screaming at the boys during weekly lessons at the house, Tuohy said: “That is just sprinkles on top of the ice cream so you hate her more.”

Tuohy added: “There’s no crime being a [expletive]!”

Tuohy said he and his client both admitted she made many mistakes — but those occurred months before Thomas died. “I never, ever, ever tried to paint her as an angel — not once,” said Tuohy.

The defense attorney frequently told the jury to “stay in the play,” his parlance for concentrating on what happened on the morning Thomas died. Tuohy argued that Pollina had no involvement in Valva’s actions that morning — and she intervened when she saw Thomas struggling by getting blankets and a heater, actions that he said do not show a depraved indifference to Thomas’ life.

“Michael Valva did all the acts,” Tuohy said, including putting the boys in the garage the night before Thomas died and hosing Thomas off outside naked and then putting him in a warm bath. “He did the acts.”

“They’re putting all the currency on what happened in the past to pick at your emotions,” Tuohy told jurors, adding that prosecutors tried to “vilify” Pollina and “make you hate her.”

Tuohy called Pollina “the star witness” of the trial and said she’s “fighting for her life.”

The jury sent two notes after getting the case at 3:57 p.m., asking for a copy of the charges, and in a second note, for former Suffolk Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Caplan's testimony related to hypothermia, Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei said.

On Friday morning, the jury listened to a readback of the testimony from Caplan and then left the courtroom at about 10:55 a.m. to continue deliberations.

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.