Opening arguments got underway Tuesday in the murder trial of Michael Valva — a former NYPD officer charged in the death of his 8-year-old son, Thomas — and the trial began with a bombshell revelation from the defense.
Suffolk County prosecutors described Valva as a depraved father who exiled his young son to die in the frigid family garage.
"How could anybody, any mother or father, leave a child in a garage at 19 degrees to sleep? I’m sorry. How could you!" said neighbor Sharon Scarnorough, who was outside the court with a group of others to demand justice for Thomas.
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The boy's body temperature was just 76 degrees when he died in Jan. 2020, prosecutors alleged.
Thomas and his older brother Anthony had spent 16 hours in that garage with no heat, on a night when the temperature outside dropped to a frigid 19 degrees.
"Michael Valva did care about his kids and did not want them to die," said defense attorney Anthony Lapinta, calling the death an accident.
The brothers, both with autism, were in that garage he said as punishment for constant urinating and defecating in the house. The idea to put the children out there came from Valva's then-fiancée, Angela Polina, according to the defense.
Polina has also been charged with murder.
Valva’s lawyer described Polina as a "demanding, controlling girlfriend who forced the boys to live outside the house."
"We’re not saying she’s the fault of all this. There’s fault all around here," Lapinta said.
The defense urged jurors not to be overwhelmed by the emotions of this case, saying the facts don’t add up to murder. But prosecutors said little Thomas Valva and his brother endured years of abuse, and plan to use surveillance video from inside the house to prove that claim.
Right before his son collapsed and died, prosecutors say Valva called the boy a "moron" and an "idiot," saying "he’s cold. Boo (expletive) hoo."
"He died a terrible, terrible, terrible, painful death," said Scarborough.
Thomas Valva’s mother was absent from the start of the trial. She has charged that Suffolk County's child protection system failed her kids, ignoring reports of abuse. The defense echoed that charge, one that Suffolk County has denied.
