Angela Pollina isn’t just a “bitch” — she’s a “pure evil” child killer.
In a swift one-day verdict, a Long Island jury on Friday disregarded a plea from the stepmom-from-hell’s defense lawyer that “we don’t convict people because they’re bitches,” finding her guilty in the tortured death of her former fiance’s 8-year-old autistic son.
Pollina, 45, was convicted of second-degree murder and child endangerment after admitting she made the boy, Thomas Valva, sleep in the freezing garage of their Center Moriches home the night before he died of hypothermia in January 2020.
The bombshell verdict brought an end to an emotional two-week trial in which the monster stepmom’s own testimony proved so shockingly cruel that it reduced some jurors to tears, and caused others to shake their heads in disbelief.
“I treated them bad. I treated them evil. I put them in the garage. It was horrible. Yes, I did … I exiled them,” Pollina admitted to the jury about forcing Thomas and his older brother, Anthony, into the sub-freezing conditions.
Jurors gasped as Pollina confessed she was “comfortable” the morning the boy froze to death, incredibly conceding only the weather was “a little chilly.”
At the time of his death, prosecutors said Thomas’s body temperature plummeted to nearly 76 degrees. He also had a head injury, a chronic kidney infection from holding in his urine, sunken hips, alopecia and no body fat.
“The cruelty that Thomas and his brother had to endure because of this defendant’s callous and selfish conduct is abhorrent, and, thankfully, the jury clearly agreed,” Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney said of the verdict.
“Her treatment of these children was nothing short of pure evil. This defendant will now face the consequences of her actions and will experience her own imprisonment just as she forced these boys to live imprisoned in a freezing garage.”
During the trial, Pollina’s lawyers had tried to shift the onus of Thomas’s horrific death onto then-fiance, Michael Valva – a former NYPD cop convicted last year in his son’s death.
But on the stand, Pollina confessed she deleted incriminating footage from the family’s Nest camera in an effort to protect her then-beau.
Tina Licari, a former piano teacher of Pollina’s daughter, also testified the evil stepmom was prone to “vicious outbursts” — and that both she and Valva had mocked Thomas for his autism.
“‘That’s right because you can’t talk,’” Licari recalled Pollina screaming at the 8-year-old boy on one occasion.
In closing arguments, Pollina’s defense attorney Matthew Tuohy dismissed the idea Pollina’s heartless behavior contributed directly to the boy’s death.
“Yeah, she was a bad person before … but not on that day. She wanted the boys exiled to the garage. She got up and owned it, she said … it was wrong,” he reasoned.
“We don’t convict people because they’re bitches,” he concluded to the shocked courtroom.
Assistant District Attorney Kerriann Kelly, however, showed no patience with Pollina’s stone-faced excuses.
“[Pollina] forced him out into the cold! Thomas was tortured and died for the sin of being autistic,” Kelly argued.
“[Thomas] was not allowed in the house, not allowed to use a bathroom. That was all because of this defendant.”
During deliberations, jurors asked to re-hear former Suffolk County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael Caplan’s testimony about Thomas’ autopsy, which found the youngster succumbed to Stage 4 hypothermia, resulting in multi-organ failure.
The jurors also asked for clarification about the meaning of depraved indifference.
After delivering their verdict, some jurors recounted their reaction to the horrific details disclosed in the case.
“There was no question in my mind,” one juror told The Post, adding: “Her words, her tone, the text messages, the videos there was no other way to find her.”
Another said, “There was an 8-year-old boy that had died… when I heard what the charges are… I thought, that fits her.”
The boy’s killer father was last year sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison over his son’s death.
Pollina is now also facing 25 years to life in prison. She’s scheduled to be sentenced on April 11.
“The story of Michael Valva is at an end. The story of Angela Pollina is coming to an end but the story of Anthony and Thomas Valva, that continues,” said Suffolk County DA Raymond A. Tierney.
The DA added that the department “will continue to look at and try to learn lessons from what happened in this case — and to take steps to make sure that something like this never ever again happens in Suffolk County.”
The father of Pollina’s youngest daughter, who he now has custody of, was emotional outside the courtroom after the verdict.
“The whole thing is screwed up. I’ve been trying to wrap my head around it for three years. You can’t rationalize this. It’s just harsh. I can’t still to this day understand,” Gino Cali said.
The verdict “felt like the night I finally got my daughter back January 24, 2020,” he added. “It’s just another step in the right direction for everyone. I love the verdict [but] it doesn’t bring Tommy back at the end of the day.”
