Angela Pollina, stepmother of Thomas Valva, was handed a sentence of 25 years to life I prison on Tuesday.
Pollina was found guilty on all counts in mid-March after a heart-wrenching trial. Thomas’ father, ex-NYPD officer Michael Valva, previously was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 to life in prison last year.
Pollina was portrayed as “wanton, evil and cruel” by prosecutors in the trial that took place last month.
“My only regret is they don’t have a garage there,” the judge said of the prison where Angela Pollina will serve her time.
Thomas died of hypothermia in early 2020 after he and his brother were forced to sleep in the family’s freezing garage with no heat on a night outdoor temperatures plunged below freezing, prosecutors have said. The brothers, both with autism, had to sleep there as punishment for constant urinating and defecating in the house, investigators said.
Pollina’s defense team had argued that no matter how anyone may judge her parenting behavior, she didn’t murder the boy. The jury disagreed, convicting her on all counts of which she was accused.
The Suffolk County woman, whom prosecutors said was often the 8-year-old’s primary caregiver, was visibly upset after learning the guilty verdict. It included four counts of child endangerment as well as second-degree murder and followed just five hours of jury deliberation. The trial itself lasted an emotional two weeks.
Initially, one juror appeared disinclined to convict, but another member of the panel later said it was a readback of testimony from the medical examiner’s office that convinced the person to vote guilty. The judge also apparently told the jury afterward that they made the right call in the case, as previously reported.
On Tuesday, lead prosecutor Kerriann Kelly described that evidence as “something that made the stuff of horror movies a reality.”
Pollina never indicated she was sorry, either, Kelly said at her sentencing. There were five other kids living in the house at the time, she pointed out Tuesday, and Pollina never showed remorse for what they endured under her roof either.
Asked during her trial if she thought she had a duty to do better in terms of protecting the boys or treated them differently than other kids, Pollina delivered the same seven-word response: “I did the best that I could.”
